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AUTHOR: 


DENTON,  WILLIAM 


TITLE: 


RADICAL  DISCOURSES 
ON  RELIGIOUS... 

PLACE: 

BOSTON 

DA  TE : 

1872 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


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Denton.   William,{:dl823-1883.  •,   ^^^   ,•  w   j„  m 

Radical  discourses  on   religious  sub3ectsi:h[ii.icroforn.]:1:bdeUvered  in  M 

usic  Hall,  Boston.  Mass./i^cby  William  Denton. 
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RADICAL  DISCOURSES 


ON 


r^ti 


RELIGIOUS   SUBJECTS. 


DELIVERED   IN  MtJSIC   HALL,   BOSTON,   MASS., 


BY 


WILLIAM   DENTON. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED    BY    WILLIAM    DENTON. 

FOR  BALK  BY  WILLIAM  WHITE  AND  COMPANY, 
158  Washington  Street. 

1872. 


I 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1R72, 

By  WILLIAM   DENTON, 

In  the  OflSce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


-^ 


PREFACE. 


The  following  discourses,  with  the  exception  of  the 
second,  which  was  given  before  the  Parker  Society  in 
1864,  were  delivered  in  Boston  Music  Hall  on  Sunday 
afternoons,  between  the  years  1868  and  1872,  to  the 
Spiritual  Society  meeting  in  that  place.  Several  of 
them  have  been  pubHshed  in  pamplilet  form,  and  have 
met  with  a  large  sale.  I  send  them  out  in  a  volume  at 
the  request  of  many  who  desire  them  in  this  more  per- 
manent form,  and  because  it  is  thought  that  they  may 
thus  reach  and  benefit  some  who  otherwise  might  not 
notice  them. 

William  Denton. 

Welleslet,  Mass.,  Oct  12,  1872. 


139767 


\ 


OOITTEITTS. 


Man's  True  Saviors , 

Be  Thyself 

The  Deluge  in  the  tioiir  op  Modern  Science      ....  77 

Is  Spiritualism  True  ? -.« 

Orthodoxy  False  since  Spiritualism  is  True 157 

What  is  Right?    .... 
Who  are  Christians?.       .       . 

Christianity  no  Finality 245 

The  God  proposed  for  our  National  Constitution     ...  277 

A  Sermon  from  Shakspeare 3^, 


^i 


MAN'S  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


"  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  said  a  trembling 
jailer  to  his  prisoners,  eighteen  hundred  years  ago. 
Since  that  time,  millions,  with  tearful  eyes,  have  asked 
the  same  question  ;  and  even  to-day  multitudes  pause 
for  the  reply.  The  answer  given  to  the  jailer  was, 
"  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved;  "  and  the  answer  given  by  Paul  and  Silas  then 
is  the  answer  generally  given  by  Christian  clergymen 
to  inquirers  now. 

Webster  says,  that  "  save  "  means  "  to  preserve  from 
injury,  destruction,  or  evil  of  any  kind."  Does  be- 
lieving in  Jesus  save  men  in  this  sense  ?  To  believe 
is  to  take  for  true  what  is  told  us  by  another.  Will 
believing  that  Jesus  was  born  of  a  virgin  ;  that  he  per- 
formed wonderful  miracles  ;  that  he  died  on  the  cross, 
or  rose  again  ;  that  he  was  the  son  of  God,  or  God  him- 
self, or  any  thing  else  respecting  him,  —  will  this  pre- 
serve men  from  injury,  destruction,  or  evil  of  any 
kind? 

What  are  the  evils  that  afflict  mankind  to-day,  and 

from  which  we   need   to   be  saved?     There  is  none 

greater  than  ignorance;  it  is  the  prolific  parent  of 
1    •  1  . 


/ 


;^ 


^  man's  true  saviors. 

innumerable  ills  —  of  poverty,  crime,  and  misery  —  that 
can  never  be  told.     The  ignorant  man  walks  thron<rii 
the  world  blindfolded,  but  with  all  the  confidence  of 
one  who  can  see.     He  is  always  liable  to  fall  down 
precipices  and  into  pits,  and  is  sure  to  choose  a  blind 
guide.     Ignorant  parents  bring  into  the  world  children, 
that,   by  virtue  of   their  generation,   can   never  be' 
healthy  or  wise,  but  must  be  a  burden  to  themselves 
and  their  friends  till  death  releases  them.     The  igno- 
rant farmer  knows  not  how  to  treat  his  land,  and  his 
meagre  crops  only  half  satisfy  the  needs  of  his  hungry 
family.     The  ignorant  king  makes  the  land  mourn  on 
account  of  his  folly;    and  ignorant  priests  keep  the 
multitudes  who  trust  them  constant   slaves  to  grovel- 
hng  superstitions.   Ignorance  fills  our  lunatic-asylums 
almshouses,  hospitals,   and  jails:    it  is,   indeed,  the 
fruitful  soil  in  which  vice  of  all  kinds  flourishes,  and 
produces  its  baneful  crops.     Men  drink   intoxicating 
drinks,  and  boys  learn  to  chew  tobacco,  because  they 
are  ignorant  of  the  bad  effects  of  these  practices  on 
the  human  system  ;  and  half  the  licentiousness  of  the 
world  would  be  removed,  were  the  perpetrators  aware 
of  the  suffering  that  invariably  follows. 

Will  believing  in  Jesus  save  us  from  ignorance  ? 
will  It  reveal  to  us  a  knowledge  of  our  physical  and 
mental  systems,  and  their  relation  to  the  external 
world,  80  that  we  may  reap  the  enjoyment  that  springs 
irom  a  life  ordered  in  harmony  with  natural  law  ^ 
Then,  blessed  faith !  it  shall  be  the  first  thing  incul- 
cated  m  the  nursery ;  and  a  college  professor  destitute 
of  this  will  lack  the  most  essential  qualification.  Lo- 
comotives  shall  carry  those  who  inculcate  it  on  every 


MANS  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


8 


train  ;  balloons  shall  drop  the  saving  creed,  printed  in 
all  tongues,  over  all  lands ;  and  telegraphs  flash  the 
intelligence  as  wide.as  the  race. 

Alas !  Jesus  himself  was  ignorant,  —  so  ignorant  of 
the  effect  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  that  he 
not  only  drank  them,  but,  if  we  are  to  believe  one  of 
his  biographers,  he  even  made  them  for  other  people 
to  drink.  He  had  such  an  incorrect  idea  of  the  size 
of  our  planet,  that  he  supposed  he  had  seen  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth  from  the  top  of  a  Syrian 
mountain  ;  and  was  so  ignorant  of  the  inviolability  of 
natural  law,  that  he  believed  and  taught  that  prayer 
could  transport  mountains  from  one  locality  to  another. 
He  never  seems  to  have  thought  that  the  fabulous  sto- 
ries of  the  Old  Testament  were  other  than  divine 
truths,  and  imposed  them  upon  his  unsuspecting  be- 
lievers. One  of  the  greatest  expounders  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  that  prince  of  believers,  Paul,  says  that  he 
counted  all  things  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  this  same  Jesus.  Writing  to  the  Corinthians, 
among  whom  he  had  preached,  he  says  he  determined 
to  know  notliing  among  them,  only  Jesus  and  him  cru- 
cified ;  and  then  declares  that  "  the  wisdom  of  this 
world  is  foolishness  with  God,"  and  that  "  the  Lord 
knoweth  the  thoughts  of  the  wise,  that  they  are  vain." 
It  is  evident  that  Paul's  belief  in  Jesus,  instead  of 
leading  him  to  increase  in  knowledge,  only  led  him  to 
despise  it.  It  is  true  that  he  recommends  believers  to 
grow  in  knowledge ;  but  it  is  the  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ :  and  how  much  ignorance  will  such  knowledge 
dispel?  He  who  grows  only  in  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  must  be  ignorant  of  what  it  is  most  important 
for  him  to  know. 


\\ 


/'■ 


m 


4  man's  true  saviors. 

The  Christian  sentiment  of  more  modern  times  is 
represented  in  one  of  Wesley's  hymns :  — 

"  Nothing  is  worth  a  thought  heneath, 
But  how  we  may  escape  the  death 
That  never,  never  dies." 

That  man's  mind  must  be  poorly  stored  with  infor- 
mation, who  is  forever  thinking  about  how  he  may 
escape  an  impossible  death. 

Take  Christians  as  a  body,  and  how  ignorant  of  nat- 
ural science  they  are !  They  seem  to  have  been  influ- 
enced by  Paul's  advice,  "  Beware,  lest  any  man  spoil 
you  through  philosophy ; "  and  it  is  notorious,  that 
generally,  in  the  same  proportion  as  a  man  becomes  a 
philosopher  does  he  become  spoiled  for  a  Christian. 
Christianity  arose  on  the  world  like  a  baleful  star  ;  and 
the  long  night  of  the  dark  ages  set  in,  that  it  took  the 
invention  of  printing  and  the  revival  of  philosophical 
literature  to  disperse.  Christianity  burned  the  books 
of  the  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers,  and  would 
have  burned  the  philosophers  themselves,  had  they 
been  living,  and  not  recanted.  When  Christians  are 
intelligent,  it  is  where  surrounding  conditions  have 
made  them  so,  and  in  proportion  to  their  outgrowtli 
of  the  original  spirit  of  Christianity.  Belief  in  Jesus, 
then,  does  not  save  from  ignorance. 

Poverty  is  a  great  calamity.  When  it  is  so  great  as 
to  produce  hunger,  it  masters  the  man,  possesses  him, 
and  sends  him  into  society  a  human  wolf.  When  it 
exists  in  less  degree,  it  prevents  a  man  from  buying 
books,  wearing  good  clothes,  living  in  a  comfortable 


man's  true  saviors.  B 

house,  and  compels  him  frequently  to  dwell  in  an  un- 
healthy neighborhood.  It  presses  a  man  to  the  earth 
under  its  iron  heel,  and  crushes,  too  often,  the  manli- 
ness out  of  him :  it  fetters  the  soul,  stultifies  the  intel- 
lect, makes  men  mean,  and  keeps  them  so. 

Will  belief  in  Jesus  cure  men  of  poverty  ?  Where 
could  we  find  a  poor  believer  if  this  was  true  ?  Jesus 
himself  was  poor,  and  very  poor.  He  says, "  The  foxes 
have  holes,  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests ;  but  the  Son 
of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head."  He  was  de- 
pendent, indeed,  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  upon 
the  charity  of  his  friends.  When  a  tax  was  demanded 
of  him,  a  miracle  was  wrought,  so  the  story  goes,  to 
obtain  the  paltry  amount,  which  the  scanty  purses  of 
Jesus  and  Peter  were  unable  to  furnish.  Indeed,  the 
early  followers  of  Jesus  were  poor  almost  to  a  man, 
and  consoled  themselves  by  saying  that  God  had  chosen 
the  poor  of  this  world  to  be  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of 
the  kingdom.  If  the  present  believers  in  Jesus  were 
to  believe  in  him  impl'citly,  and  obey  him  fully,  they 
would  be  equally  poor.  If  they  were  to  cease  to  labor, 
lay  up  nothing,  imitate  the  birds,  and  take  no  thought 
for  to-morrow,  how  long  would  it  be  before  poverty 
would  have  every  one  of  them  in  its  grip  ?  Jesus  ex- 
claims, "  Wo  unto  you  that  are  rich  ! "  and  one  of  his 
poor  followers,  James,  echoes  his  cry ;  while  Paul  says, 
"  Having  food  and  raiment,  let  us  therewith  be  con- 
tent." What  a  poverty-stricken  people  we  should  be 
if  these  statements  were  generally  believed,  and  the 
commands  of  Jesus  and  his  apostles  obeyed !  If  we 
took  no  thought  for  food  and  raiment,  we  should  soon 
be  hungry  and  naked ;  if  we  did  not  lay  up  for  our- 


/ 


^ 


6 


MAN  S  TKXJE  SAVIORS. 


!il 


1>. 


selves  when  young  and  healthy,  we  should  become 
paupers  when  old  and  infirm  ;  and,  if  we  were  satisfied 
with  food  and  raiment,  where  would  be  our  railroads 
and  locomotives,  our  steamships  and  telegraphs  ?  Who 
would  own  a  microscope  or  telescope  ?  and  in  what 
condition  would  be  the  arts  and  sciences  ?  It  has  only 
been  by  disbelieving  Jesus,  disobeying  these  commands 
of  his,  and  practising  the  very  opposite,  that  Christian 
nations  have  obtained  the  magnificent  results  of  modern 
civilization.  Believing  in  Jesus,  tlien,  does  not  save 
men  from  poverty. 

Disease  is  a  great  and  widespread  evil.  It  shrouds 
man's  life  with  gloom  ;  it  turns  the  blessings  of  nature 
into  deadly  curses ;  its  venom  rankles  in  the  heart,* 
dims  the  eye,  palsies  the  hand,  and  binds  the  tongue. 
Tlie  diseased,  it  is  said  on  good  authority,  actually  out- 
number the  healthy;  and,  in  consequence  of  this, 
misery,  like  a  dark  cloud,  comes  between  millions  and 
the  sun  of  happiness  that  should  shine  upon  all. 

Will  faith  in  Jesus  bear  away  our  infirmities,  and 
make  us  whole,  as  tlie  faith  of  the  woman  is  said  to 
have  done,  who  but  touched  the  hem  of  his  garment  ? 
What  a  boon  to  the  afflicted !  We  will  indeed  cast 
medicine  to  the  dogs ;  and  quacks,  apothecaries,  and 
doctors,  who  tinker  the  human  system,  may  mourn  for 
the  days  that  are  gone :  Jesus  shall  be  our  great 
Physician,  and  a  world  of  his  healthy  believers  shall 
swell  to  the  heavens  their  song  of  praise.  But  the 
flying  pestilence  heeds  not  even  the  blood  of  Jesus  on 
the  door-post :  it  enters  and  destroys  the  chosen  people 
no  less  readily  than  it  does  the  Egyptians.  Sickness 
lays  his  hand  on  the  Jesus-believing  saint  as  heavily  as 


man's  true  saviors.  7 

on  the  Jesus-rejecting  sinner  ;  and,  if  there  is  any  dif- 
ference,  the  odds  seem  to  be  on  the  wrong  side ;  for, 
as  Solomon  said  of  the  conys.  Christians  are  "  feeble' 
folk.''     They  read  in  their  oracles,  "  Bodily  exercise 
profiteth  little ; "  "  Whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasten- 
eth,  and   scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth  ;  " 
and,  if  true  to  their  faith,  they  bow,  and  kiss  the  rod 
that  smites  them,  and  neglect  their  bodies  in  this  world 
that  they  may  save  their  souls  in  the  next.     Christians 
are,  no  doubt,  more  healthy  than  special  classes  that 
might  be  mentioned,  but  nowhere  near  as  healthy  as 
those  who,  having  outgrown  Christianity,  regard  it  as 
a  duty  they  owe  to  themselves  to  learn  the  laws  of 
health,  and  to  live  lives  in  obedience  to  them.     Fevers 
burn  Christians,  and  agues  chill  them ;  colds  visit  them, 
and  consumption  feeds  upon  them ;  and  their  salvation,' 
instead  of  placing  a  barrier  between  them  and  the 
enemy,  like  a  spy  in  the  camp,  invites  his  approach. 
The  preachers  of  the  Christian  gospel  are  especially  a 
weak,  puny,  sickly  set  of  men ;  a  robust  man  among 
them  is  an  exception.     After  laboring  "  in  their  Mas- 
ter's service  "  for  a  few  years,  they  are  generally  broken 
down,  and  require  trips  to  Europe  or  the  Holy  Land 
to  recruit  their  health.     The  more  sickly  of  them  rely 
upon  doctors  to  heal  their  bodies,  as  their  church-mem- 
bers rely  upon  Jesus  for  the  cure  of  their  souls,  and 
generally  with  as  little  success. 

Some  of  the  ancient  Christians,  it  is  true,  believed 
that  Christianity  included  a  remedy  of  disease ;  hence 
James  says,  "  Is  any  sick  among  you  ?  let  him  send 
for  the  elders  of  the  church  ;  and  let  them  pray  over 
him,  anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ; 


/ 


I  / 


8 


man's  true  saviors. 


Ml! 


t 


and  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the  sick,  and  the 
Lord  shall  raise  liiin  up."  What  an  easy,  cheap,  and 
expeditious  way  is  this  !  But  where  is  the  Christian 
that  believes  in  it,  and  practises  accordingly  ?  He 
sends  for  tlie  elders  only  when  they  happen  to  be  phy- 
sicians, and  then  has  more  faith  in  their  pills  than 
their  prayers,  and  in  internal  oleaginous  applications 
rather  than  external ;  for  the  experience  of  long  ago 
has  demonstrated  the  uselessness  of  the  practice  that 
James  recommends. 

Death  is  spoken  of  by  Christians  as  the  "  king  of 
terrors,"  at  whose  approach  the  strongest  fear  and 
tremble.  When  men  become  subjects  of  King  Jesus, 
does  he  deliver  them  from  this  potentate  ?  Does  he, 
at  least,  relieve  them  from  all  fear  of  what  is  inevi- 
table ?  Then  Christianity  is  still  a  boon,  and  its  sys- 
tem of  salvation  worthy  of  acceptation ;  for  life  has 
little  charm  for  that  man  who  has  continually  before 
his  eyes  the  fear  of  death.  Jesus,  the  object  of  the 
Ciiristian's  faith,  died  young:  he  could  neither  deliver 
himself  from  death,  nor  from  the  terror  that  it 
inspired.  Hear  his  prayer  in  prospect  of  approach- 
ing death :  "  If  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from 
me."  It  was  not  possible ;  and  in  the  anguish  of  his 
soul  he  exclaims,  "  My  God,  my  God  !  wliy  hast  thou 
forsaken  me  ?  "  Unable  to  deliver  himself,  how  can 
lie  deliver  his  believers  ?  So  overcome  by  terror  at 
the  prospect  of  his  own  death  as  to  "  sweat,  as  it  were, 
great  drops  of  blood,"  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
believers  in  him  tremble  at  the  skeleton  grim.  Some 
Christians,  it  is  true,  die  without  fear,  and  some  with 
courage,  hope,  and  even  joy ;  but  we  have  no  evidence 


man's  true  saviors. 


9 


VI 


that  this  is  owing  to  their  belief  in  Jesus,  since  it  is 
true  of  believers  in  all  religions,  and  in  none.  There 
is,  indeed,  good  reason  to  think,  even  from  the  admis- 
sions of  Christian  ministers  themselves,  that  unbeliev- 
ers, as  a  rule,  have  much  less  fear  of  death  than  the 
majority  of  Christians.  "  In  all  my  experiences," 
says  the  Rev.  Theodore  Clapp  of  New  Orleans,  "  I 
never  saw  an  unbeliever  die  in  fear.  I  have  seen 
them  expire,  of  course,  without  any  hopes  or  expecta- 
tions, but  never  in  agitation  from  dread  or  misgivings 
as  to  what  might  befall  them  hereafter.  It  is  probable 
that  I  have  seen  a  greater  number  of  those  called 
irreligious  persons  breathe  their  last  than  any  other 
clergyman  in  the  United  States.  .  .  .  When  I  first 
entered  the  clerical  profession,  I  was  struck  with  the 
utter  inefficiency  of  most  forms  of  Christianity  to 
afford  consolation  in  a  dying-hour."  And  this  is  what 
we  might  reasonably  expect.     Most  Christians  believe 

in  a  God  who  is  angry  with  the  wicked  every  day, 

one  who  will  damn  a  soul  for  one  sin  unrepented  of  : 
they  believe  in  a  devil  of  almost  infinite  power,  and  a 
hell  of  torment  unutterable,  to  which  the  best  of  them 
are  apt  to  feel  that  they  are  liable  ;  while  the  worst 
that  the  unbeliever  can  fear  is  an  eternal  sleep,  in 
which  he  will  know  no  more  than  the  violet  whicli 
blooms  on  his  grave.  Your  salvation,  then.  Christian, 
saves  neither  from  death  nor  the  fear  of  it. 

Fire,  when  it  obtains  the  mastery,  is  an  evil  to  be 
dreaded,  and  any  salvation  from  its  ravages  would  be 
gladly  received ;  but  the  Christian's  belief  does  not 
save  him  from  them.  The  fire  licks  up  the  very 
churches  with  its  flaming  tongue,  and  consumes  alike 


/ 


10 


man's  true  saviors. 


A 


the  dwelling  of  Christian  and  infidel ;  and  insurance 
societies  are  just  as  needful  to  the  one  class  as  to  the 
other. 

Is  the  believer  in  Jesus  any  safer  in  a  thunder-storm 
for  his  belief?  See  that  church-steeple  shattered,  and 
the  minister  in  the  pulpit  struck  dead  upon  his  knees ; 
while  in  awe  his  Christian  brethren  whisper,  "  Myste- 
rious Providence !  " 

The  floods  are  no  respecters  of  persons.  Christians 
drown  as  readily  as  their  unbelieving  neighbors,  under 
like  circumstances.  Cast  a  Christian  and  an  infidel 
into  the  sea:  which  will  sink  first?  The  one  who 
knows  not  how  to  swim  ;  and  there  is  more  salvation 
from  drowning  in  a  cork  than  in  the  faith  of  the  one 
or  the  infidelity  of  the  other. 

In  what  respects,  then,  0  Christian !  does  belief  in 
Jesus,  whom  thou  callest  Christ  and  Saviour,  save 
thee  at  all?  *'  Our  salvation,"  replies  the  Christian, 
"  is  from  sin,  from  the  wrath  of  God,  and  from  eter- 
nal torments :  it  concerns  not  itself  with  sickness,  pov- 
erty, floods,  fires,  and  such  trivialities,  but  with  things 
of  eternal  moment."  If  the  salvation  by  Jesus  is 
indeed  a  salvation  from  sin,  we  will  welcome  it.  From 
sin,  —  from  lying,  stealing,  intemperance  in  all  its 
forms;  from  anger,  bitterness,  and  all  uncharitable- 
ness ;  from  jealousy,  revenge,  and  all  meanness ;  from 
war  and  all  its  horrors  ;  from  crime  and  all  its  results,  — 
what  a  salvation  that  would  be  I  I  know  that  Jesus 
is  said  in  Matthew  to  have  received  his  name  of  Jesus, 
which  means  "  saviour,"  because  he  should  save  his  peo- 
ple from  their  sins  ;  but  where  are  the  people  tliat  he 
has  saved  ?    Can  those  who  call  themselves  Christians 


man's  true  saviors. 


11 


n' 


be  in  reality  his  people  ?  Jesus  himself  acknowl- 
edged  that  he  was  not  good.  When  one  called  him 
"good  Master,"  he  said,  "Why  callest  thou  me 
good  ?  There  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is  God."  John, 
the  beloved  disciple  of  Jesus,  says,  "  If  we  say  that 
we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is 
not  in  us."  It  is  evident,  then,  that  he  did  not  con- 
sider himself  to  be  saved  from  all  sin. 

The  Christians  of  to-day  universally  confess  them- 
selves  to  be  sinners.     In  the  Episcopalian  church  they 
repeat  every  Sunday  morning,  "  Almighty  and  most 
merciful  Father,   we   have   erred   and    strayed   from 
thy    ways     like    lost     sheep.      We     have     followed 
too    much    the    devices    and    desires    of    our    own 
hearts.     We   have  offended   against  thy   holy    laws. 
We  have  left  undone  those  things  which  we  ought  to 
have  done,  and  we  have  done  those  things  which  we 
ought  not  to  have  done  ;  and  there  is  no  health  in  us. 
But  thou,   0  Lord,   have  mercy  upon  us   miserable 
offenders."     Very   similar    are     the    confessions    of 
Christian  clergymen  of  all  denominations,  reiterated 
from  the  pulpit  every  seventh  day  ;  and  the  believing 
brethren,  in  whose  name  they  pray,   devoutly   say, 
"Amen."     And,   in  doing  so,  they  acknowledge  the 
statement  to  be  correct.    But  what  worse  is  an  unbe- 
liever than  this  ?     Some  of  them  are  not  as  bad.     All 
Christians  pray,  "  Forgive  us  our  trespasses,"  as  Jesus 
taught  iiis  disciples  to  pray ;  and  it  is  evident,  by  his 
doing  80,  that  he  did  not  believe  that  their  faith  in 
him  would  save  them  from  committing  sin,  as  the  con- 
fessions of  modern  Christians  show  its  helplessness  in 
their  case.     Where  is  the  Christian  that  is  saved  from 


/ 


12 


man's  tbue  savioes. 


sill,  or  that  even  professes  to  be  ?  Should  any  man 
claim  to  be,  and  he  a  married  man,  let  his  wife  bo 
questioned  "  separate  and  apart ''  from  her  husband  ; 
and,  if  she  be  truthful,  her  statement  will  prove  the 
worthlessness  of  his  claim.  Indeed,  Christians  seem 
to  take  pride  in  confessing  what  great  sinners  they  are, 
and  unblushingly  sing,  what  can  only  be  true  of  one 
of  them, — 

"  I  the  chief  of  sinners  am ; 
But  Jesus  died  for  me." 

The  very  reason  why  they  should  not  fee  sinners  at  all, 
according  to  their  theology.      What  merchant  will 
credit  another  the  sooner  because  he' is  a  Christian,  or 
place  more  confidence  in  him  when  making  a  bargain  ? 
Some  have  done  so  only  to  find  themselves  grievously 
disappointed.      We   are   surrounded  by  believers  in 
Jesus,  —  men  und  women  who  profess  to  have  been  born 
again,  and  passed  from  a  state  of  nature  into  a  state 
ot  grace  ;  who  profess  to  have  been  saved  by  this  great 
salvation :  but  where  are  those  that  never  lie,  nor  pre- 
varicate ;  who  never  take  advantage  of  another  in  a 
bargain  ;  who  are  never  angry,  nor  sulky,  nor  greedy, 
nor  refuse  to  help  the  needy ;  wlio  are  temperate  in 
all  things,  —  never  use  tobacco  or  intoxicating  drinks, 
nor  injure  their  bodies  by  any  indulgence  ?     Where 
are  tlwse  that  are  never   bigoted,  intolerant,  or  un- 
charitable, and  whose  consciences  absolve  them  every 
evening,  so  that  they  have  no  need  to  pray,  "  Forgive 
us  our  trespasses,"  for  they  have  no  trespasses  to  be 
forgiven  ?    The  Ciiristian  Church,  with  all  its  preten- 
sions, cannot  furnish  a  single  one.     What,  then,  are 


Iran's  true  saviohs. 


13 


we  to  think  of  the  statement  that  Jesus  saves  men 
from  sin  ? 

Christianity  did  not  save  the  South  from  slavery, 
wliere  it  was  commenced  and  carried  on  by  Christians 
and  Christian  ministers,  whoso  hands  were  strength- 
ened by  their  Christian  brethren  of  the  North  :°the 
one  forged  the  fetters  and  applied  them;  the  other 
riveted  them,  and  cursed  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  all 
who  attempted  to  break  them ;  while  most  of  those 
who  wrote  and  lectured  against  slavery  were  men 
whom  the  Church  branded  as  infidels. 

Belief  in  Jesus  does  not  save  men  from  war  and 
cruelty.       Christian   nations   have   been   notoriously 
figliting  nations  ;  and  Christian  wars  have  been  among 
the  most  cruel  and  bloody.     "  There  are  no  wild  beasts 
as  ferocious  as  Christians  who  differ  concerning  their 
faith,''  said  the  heathen  in  the  fourth  century'';  and, 
if  we  are  better  now,  it  is  due  not  to  the  superiority 
of  our  faith,  but  to  the  ad  /auce  which  the  best  tvpcs  of 
our    race  present   in  accordance    with   the  operation 
of  natural   law.     -  Wliat   a  dreadful    picture,"  says 
Br.    Dick,   "  would   it   present  of  the    malignity  of 
persons  who  have   professed   the   religion  of  Christ, 
were  we  to  collect  into  one  point  of  view  all  the  per- 
secutions, tortures,  burnings,   massacres,  and   honid 
cruelties,  wliicli  in  Europe  and  Asia,  and  even  in  tiie 
West  Indies  and  America,  have  been  inflicted  on  con- 
scientious men  for  their  firm  adherence  to  what  they 
considered  as  the  truths  of  religion  !  " 

It  must  be  confessed,  that,  if°some  of  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  were  obeyed,  war  would  be  impossible  ;  but 
when  he  declares  that  the  punishment  of  a  false  faith 


14 


man's  TllUE  SAVIORS. 


^1 


will  be  damnation,  and  that  damnation  everlasting: 
fire,  that  man  must  be  more  than  mortal  who  believes, 
and  is  not  led  in  some  degree  to  persecute  those  whose 
faith  is,  in  his  opinion,  erroneous. 

Christianity  does  not  save  from  intemperance  ;  for, 
while  men  almost  universally  believed  in  Jesus  where 
the  evil  was,  it  grew  till  it  overshadowed  the  land.  It 
invaded  the  pulpit,  and  dragged  to  untimely  graves 
hosts  of  the  strongest  Ciiristian  believers.  The  first 
tem{)erai]ce  paper  was  published  by  Joseph  Livesay 
of  England,  wlio  was  what  is  called  an  infidel ;  and 
it  was  not  till  outsiders  had  done  the  heavy  work,  and 
they  saw  a  prospect  of  assistance  from  it,  that  Chris- 
tians tooic  much  interest  in  the  temperance  movement. 
Tiie  Bible  is  tlie  bulwark  of  moderate  drinking,  and 
the  example  of  Jesus  one  of  its  principal  supports. 

Christianity  does  not  save  from  bigotry  and  intoler- 
ance. No  people  in  our  country  are  as  bigoted  as 
Christian  believers ;  and  it  is  no  wonder.  Jesus 
looked  forward  to  the  time  when  he  should  sit  on  the 
throne  of  his  glory,  and  say  to  those  who  had  neglected 
the  believers  in  him,  "  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed, 
into  everlasting  fire."  If  lie  had  possessed  the  power, 
lie  would  evidently  have  given  his  enemies  a  taste  of 
earthly  fire,  as  so  many  of  his  followers  subsequently 
did.  Paul  was  charged  with  bigotry  to  the  lips,  and 
fulminates  his  anathemas  like  a  pope's  bull ;  and  even 
the  "  loving  John "  would  have  turned  Theodore 
Parker  out  of  his  house  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  as  the 
Boston  Christian  bigots  tried  to  pray  him  out  of  the 
world. 

The   religion  of  the   despised   Nazarene,   peaceful 


MAN  S  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


15 


while  an  infant,  became  a  fighting  bully  as  soon  as  it 
could  use  its  fists.  It  imprisoned,  banished,  and  burnt ; 
it  inaugurated  war  for  the  religious  opinion's  sake, 
and  deluged  Europe  and  Asia  with  blood.  When  this 
was  over,  dungeons  were  filled,  racks  invented,  and 
the  fagot  burned  the  refractory  sceptic  that  milder 
means  failed  to  convert.  Do  not  suppose  that  this 
spirit  is  extinct.  A  revival  of  orthodox  religion  is  a 
revival  of  uncharitableness  and  hate ;  then  men 
think  most  of  its  damnatory  creed ;  their  hatred  of 
infidelity  and  the  infidel  is  proportioned  to  their  love 
of  souls.  Here  is  a  prayer  that  was  offered  in  the 
Young  Men's  Ciiristian  Association  of  Boston  only  a 
few  days  ago,  and  reported  in  "  The  Boston  Herald." 
"  Lord,  if  that  infidel  that  Brother  C.  told  us  about  is 
at  work  this  morning  writing  his  tracts.  Lord,  par- 
alyze his  arm  !  "  Who  cannot  see  that  this  praying 
brother  would  have  paralyzed  the  arm  himself,  if  he 
had  possessed  the  power  ? 

Lying  clings  to  Christian  nations  as  creeds  do  to 
Christian  churches.  Leading  Christians  are  notorious 
falsifiers  for  God :  their  religious  tracts  and  books 
abound  with  calumnies  against  unbelievers,  sophistry 
and  special  pleading  that  would  have  disgraced  a  Ro- 
man lawyer  in  the  days  of  Cicero  ;  and  it  is  no  wonder 
that  they  practise  occasionally  on  their  own  account 
what  they  so  frequently  do  for  their  religion  and  their 
God. 

It  may  be  said,  that,  although  Christianity  does  not 
save  men  from  all  sinning,  it  still  does  much  to  restrain 
them  from  vice  ;  and  this  cannot  be  denied.  <Moham- 
medanisra  does  the  same  thing :  it  restrains  its  be- 


16 


man's  TRtTE  SAVIORS. 


t| 


m 

> 


lievcrs  from  tlie  use  of  intoxicating  drinks.     Professors 
of  th6  Christian  religion  are  frequently  restrained  by 
It  from  the  commission  of  such  sins  as  the  Church  de- 
nounces; but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Church   upholds 
sms  by  virtue  of  its  belief  in  Christianity.     It  was 
thus     that    it    upheld   slavery,  and    to-day   upholds 
woman's  degradation.     It  has  two  vices  peculiarly  its 
own:  it  robs  man  of  one-seventh  portion  of  his  time 
which  it  generally  employs  in  idleness  or  superstition  ' 
It  has  invented  a  sin  which  it  calls  sabbath-breakincr,' 
and  spends  more  time  and  eflfort  to  pi-event  men  from 
committing  this  imaginary  crime  than  it  does  to  hinder 
them  from  doing  what  justice  universally  condemns. 
The  bigotry  and  intolerance  so  generally  manifested  by 
It  in  proportion  to  its  influence  have  made  it  the  great- 
est engine  ever  invented  to  fetter  the  human  mindl  and 
it  is  only  as  its  power  decreases,  and  the  soul  is  liber- 
ated from  its  influence,  that  the  large-brained  races  of 
the  world  attain  to  those  results  of  enlightenment  in 
which  now  even  Christianity  makes  its  boast. 

The  salvation  that  is  said  to  come  from  a  belief  in 
Jesus  is  not  a  salvation  from  sin,  — nothing  can  bo 
much  more  certain,  —  and  we  still  ask,"  What  does  Je- 
sus save  men  from  ?  ''— "  From  the  wrath  of  God  ?  " 
Does  your  God,  then,  become  angry  ?  — he  whom  you  . 
believe  made  worlds  more  numerous    than  drops  of 
water  in  the  ocean  by  the  word  of  his  mouth  ;  he  who  is 
perfect  in  love,  a  perfect  father,  and  we  his  children.     I 
know  men  who  would  be  ashamed  to  be  angry,  men  who 
would  blush  to  have  their  wrath  excited  by  a  man  — 
their  equal :  and  yet  you  believe  in  a  God  who  is  angry, 
and  angry  with  man.     It  cannot  bo  so.     But,  if  so,  wiiat 


man's  teue  saviors. 


17 


makes  God  angry  ?  You  tell  me  it  is  sin  ;  for  your 
Scriptures  say  that  God  is  angry  with  the  wicked  every 
day.  But  you  confess  every  day  that  you  are  wicked : 
how,  then,  can  you  be  saved  from  the  wrath  of  God  ? 
If  you  are  telling  the  truth  morning  and  evening,  you 
are  a  sinner;  and  the  book  in  which  as  a  Christia°i  you 
believe  declares  that  the  soul  that  sinneth  shall  die*:  it 
als9  declares  that  "  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from 
heaven  against  all  unrighteousness  and  ungodliness  of 
men,"  and  asks,  —  what  should  be  to  you  a  solemn 
question,  —  "  If  the  righteous  scarcely  be  saved,  where 
shall  the  sinner  and  the  ungodly  appear  ?  "  Your  God 
must  hate  you  if  you  are  a  sinner  :  so  that  your  salva- 
tion does  not  even  save  you  from  the  wrath  of  God. 

"  But  our  faith  enables  us  to  appropriate  the  merits 
of  Jesus,  so  that  we  receive  the  reward  of  his  perfect 
obedience.  Jesus  is  called  the  Loj-d  our  righteous- 
ness ;  for,  though  we  can  do  nothing  that  is  acceptable 
to  God,  we  clothe  ourselves  by  faith  with  his  virtue, 
and  he  becomes  all  in  all  to  us."  Can  it  be  that  I  un- 
derstand you?  You  may  injure  both  your  body  and 
your  soul  by  licentious  indulgence  ;  but,  by  exercising 
faith  in  Jesus,  God  will  reward  you  for  his  chastity! 
You  may  lie  and  steal,  since  these  vices  are  human  ; 
but  only  believe,  and  you  appropriate  the  divine  hones- 
ty and  veracity  of  your  Saviour,  and  all  is  well. 
What  a  gospel  of  rascality  is  this  !  What  a  comfort- 
able  doctrine  for  the  man  who  wishes  to  excuse  his 
shortcomings,  and  escape  the  just  penalty  of  his  mis- 
deeds I  No  wonder  that  immorality  flourishes  wher- 
ever it  is  pTeached  !  Under  its  influence  men  are 
poutent  to  confess  themselves  sinners  every  Sunday, 


18 


MAN  S  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


and  trust  in  Jesus  to  save  them  ;  while  they  aro  just 
as  content  to  go  on  sinning  during  the  week:  for  the 
Sunday  confession  must  be  made,  and  the  Sunday  trust 
exercised,  at  all  events.  But  it  is  certain  tliat  nothing 
can  be  more  false  tliaii  this  doctrine.  Paul  truly  says, 
^  "  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  tliat  shall  ho  also  reap." 
0^^  Nothing  more  true,  as  our  daily  experyice  demon- 
strates. No  man  can  break  a  physical  law,  and  an- 
other bear  the  consequences ;  nor  can  any  man  sin,  and 
Jesus  suffer  the  penalty  for  him  ;  nor  did  he  suffer  it 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago  in  anticipation  of  the 
offences  the  Christian  sinner  would  commit  in  coming 
time.  Jesus  had  no  merit  to  spare ;  fanatic  as  he  was, 
he  felt  and  acknowledged  his  own  deficiency;  and  the 
structure  of  the  universe  forbids  any  appropriation  of 
the  merits  of  another. 

But  we  are  told  tiiat  the  salvation  that  comes  by  faith 
in  Jesus  saves  us  from  eternal  torments.  But  what 
evidence  is  there  that  any  such  tormo.it  exists  ?  The 
very  lightning  that  in  its  fury  knows  no  respect  of 
persons ;  the  bounteous  rain  that  distributes  its  bless- 
ings  upon  all;  the  smiling  moon,  peeping  into  the 
fevered  face  of  the  debauchee  ;  the  sunshine,  lookin<^ 
through  the  gloomy  bars  of  the  prison,  and  whispering 
hope  to  the  doomed  criminal,  that  gilds  alike  the 
gallows  and  the  church-vane  with  its  glory  ;  the  calm 
evening,  cooling  the  sultry  air,  lighting  the  lamps  in 
the  hall  of  night,  and  hushing  the  birds,  that  saint  and 
sinner  may  sleep,  —  all  teach  the  absurdity  of  this  or- 
thodox table.  Should  there  be  any  eternal  torment, 
the  Christian  is  as  likely  to  suffer  it  as  aiiy,  if  his  Bible 
in  which  he  trusts  is  to  be  credited.     It  is  only  those 


man's  true  saviors. 


19 


who  obey  the  commandments  of  Jesus  that  have  a  right 
to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  through  the  gales 
of  pearl  into  the  celestial  city.     But  Christians  do  not 
obey  them.     They  resist  evil ;  they  lend,  hoping  for 
something ;    they  judge  ;    they   lay   up   treasures  on 
earth  ;  they  take  thought  for  to-morrow,  and  act  in 
all  respects  as  if  Jesus  had  never  said  a  word  in  refer- 
ence to  these  subjects.     Jesus  teaches  that  they  only 
are  founded  on  the  rock  who  obey  his  teachings :  all 
others  are  to  be  swept  into  perdition  when  the  tide  of 
God's  wrath  shall  flow  over  a  ruined  world.     h\  no 
wise  is  there  any  hope  for  thee,  Christian  :  thy  salva- 
tion is  a  sham,  thy  great  Physician  a  quack  ;  the  only 
diseases  that  he  cures  being  imaginary  ones  that  faith 
in  liim  has  produced. 

The  Clwistian  doctrine  of  salvation  is  built  on  the 
Christian  doctrine  of  damnation ;  and  the  doctrine  of 
damnation  rests  upon  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  ;  and 
this  upon  the  story  of  man's  fall  from  a  condition  of 
original  purity  and  goodness.     But  of  this  story  science 
may  be  said  to  have  proved  the  utter  falsity.     Geology 
has  settled  the  question  as  far  as  our  planet  is  con- 
cerned.    It  has  not  fallen  from  an  originally  perfect 
condition  to  one  in  which  volcanoes  belch,  storms  howl, 
earthquakes  heave   and   ingulf,  and    ferocious   beasts 
devour.      Gec^logy  proves,  that,  in  all  these  respects, 
the  world  has  improved,  and  is  to-day  a  better  abode 
for  human  beings  than  at  any  past  period  in  its  history. 
ArchfBology,  a  younger  sister  of  geology,  has  in  like 
manner  proved  that  man  has  not  fallen  from  a  state 
of  sinless  perfection  to  one  in  which  lying,  stealing, 
drunkenness,  and  licentiousness  characterize  him,  but 


ttmM 


20 


ALAJ^'S  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


man's  true  saviors. 


21 


that,  from  the  condition  of  a  savage,  he  has  climbed 
during  ages  to  tlie  civilization  of  the  present.  The 
opinion  held  by  those  who  have  made  archaeology  a 
study  is  well  represented  in  the  address  of  Lord 
Dunraven  to  the  Cumbrian  Archaeological  Association  : 
"  If  we  look  back  tlirough  the  entire  period  of  the 
past  history  of  man,  as  exhibited  in  the  result  of 
archaeological  investigation,  we  can  scarcely  fail  to 
perceive  that  the  whole  exhibits  one  grand  scheme  of 
progression,  which,  notwithstanding  partial  periods  of 
decline,  has  for  its  end  the  ever-increasing  civilization 
of  man,  and  the  gradual  development  of  his  higher 
faculties."  And  in  the  statement  of  Sir  John  Lubbock, 
in  the  closing  chapter  of  "  The  Origin  of  Civilization," 
"  Existing  savages  are  not  the  descendants  of  civilized 
ancestors.  The  primitive  condition  of  ma!i  was  one 
of  utter  barbarism ;  and  from  this  condition  several 
races  have  independently  raised  themselves." 

Archaeology  has  demonstrated  that  chiliads  of  years 
before  the  world  was  made,  according  to  biblical  chro- 
nology, man  in  England,  Scotland,  France,  Belgium, 
and  Europe  generally,  was  a  savage.  The  remains  of 
his  cannibal  feasts  which  have  been  found  show  the 
amazing  distance  that  he  has  since  travelled  on  the 
road  to  perfect  manhood.  What  lifted  him  out  of  this 
pit,  and  gave  to  the  world  the  architecture  of  Egypt, 
the  art  of  Etruria,  the  poetry  and  philosophy  of  Greece, 
the  morality  of  Gautama  and  Confucius,  and  the 
jurisprudence  of  Rome  ?  All  this  long  before  Jesus 
was  born,  and  probably  before  a  chapter  of  the  Bible 
was  written.  That  advanced  man  which  advanced 
the  planet,  his  dwelling-place,  for  millions  ,of  years 


before  his  foot  trod  it.     Wliafe  pushes  the  tree  on  from 
the  sapling,  struggling  for  existence,  to  the  towerin.r 
pillar  of  living  beauty  ?     The  spirit  in  the  tree,  pusht 
mg,  urgmg  day  and  night,  and  that  never  allows  it  to 
rest     What  carried  the  earth  upward  from  the  monot- 
onous wilderness  of  heated  rock  to  the  ocean-bearing, 
lake-gemmod,  mountain-crowned  planet  of  to-day  ?  and' 
life,  from  tlie  polype  of  the  sea-bottom  to  the  croak- 
nig  frog  and  the  thinking  man  ?     The  all-controllin- 
Spirit,  never  resting,  never  faraway,  as  inseparable  from 
the  universe  as  a  man's  soul  is  from  himself ;  and  this,  in 
the  first  rude  men,  carried  them  on,  awakened  thou-ht 
in  their  souls,  lit  a  fire  of  love  in  their  hearts,  whis- 
pered of  heaven  in  their  ears,  and  to-day  reveals  to 
them   a  condition  of  perfection  to  which  humanity 
must  yet  attain,  and  for  which  the  best  men  are  daily 
striving. 

Man,  then,  has  not  fallen  :  the  foundation  of  dam- 
nation and  the  necessity  for  orthodox  salvation  is  gone 
God  did  not  make  a  pure  fountain,  allow  the  Devil  to 
poison  it,  and  then  compel  the  whole  human  race  to 
drnik  of  it,  and  at  the  same  time  threaten  them  with 
eternal  torment  if  they  should  manifest  its  evil  effects 
But,  if  man  did  not  fall  from  an  originally  pure  con- 
dition, then  ho  did  not  receive  from  that  fall  that  never 
occurred  a  corruption  of  his  nature,  whereby  he  is 
"  inclined  to  evil,  and  that  continually."     I  never  can 
remember  the  time  when  I  was  not  inclined  to  good 
when  I  did  not  love  truth,  honesty,  temperance,  purity' 
manliness  ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  I  am  an  exccp-' 
tion  in  this  respect.     I  believe  this  to  be  the  general 
feeling  of  all  men.     The  protest  which  the  soul  makes 


1 

I 


22 


MAN  8  TKCE  SAVIORS. 


^11, 


against  absurd  forms,  useless  ceremonies,  and  fixlse  no- 
tions, is  mistaken  for  opposition  to  virtue  and  goodness. 
I  cannot  say  that  I  was  naturally  fond  of  Sunday  ;  it  was 
the  most  melancholy  day  of  the  week :  nor  did  I  take 
much  delight  in  sermons  ;  not  because  I  disliked  the 
goodness  inculcated  in  them,  but  because  there  was  so 
little  in  them  attractive  to  my  youthful  mind.  Tiie 
goodness  that  supports  asylums,  that  establishes  scliools, 
that  founds  temperance,  peace,  and  antislavery  socie- 
ties, that  calls  for  justice  to  woman  and  to  the  laborer, 
and  that  overthrows  tyranny,  is  the  goodness  of 
human  nature,  that  throbs  with  more  or  less  intensity 
in  every  breast,  and  which  Christianity  ostentatiously 
claims  for  itself,  while  it  conveniently  passes  over  to 
the  credit  of  what  it  calls  "  the  world  "  the  evils  which 
are  its  own  legitimate  fruit. 

Are  Mohammedans  less  temperate  than  the  Chris- 
tians who  tempt  them  with  intoxicating  drink  ?  Are 
Hindoos  less  honest  than  British  Christians,  who  have 
Stolen  from  them  their  country,  and  who  enrich  them- 
selves by  impoverishing  the  inhabitants? 

But  we  are  told  that  all  persons  do  wrong ;  that  is, 
they  knowingly  violate  natural  law.  I  grant  it;  but, 
if  that  proves  original  sin,  it  will  not  be  at  all  difficult 
to  prove  original  virtue.  All  persons  do  right;  and 
they  do  right  ten  times  where  they  do  wrong  once. 
No  man  was  ever  known  to  tell  more  lies  than  truths, 
or  to  be  for  a  longer  time  angry  than  good-natured. 
The  fact  is,  that  human  beings  arc  born  neither  in 
virtue  nor  sin,  but  capable  of  both  :  and,  with  each 
succeeding  age,  man's  ability  to  master  his  animal 
propensities  increases ;  and  he  thus  grows  into  virtue, 


3 

4 


MAN  S   TRUE  SAVIOKS. 


01 


as  he  does  toward  perfect  manhood,  for  which  ho 
started  at  the  beginning,  but  to  which  he  cannot  attain 
without  the  time  essential  for  that  growth. 

If  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  is  false,  then   the 
notion  that  God  doomed  the  race  to  endless  perdition 
on  account  of  a  condition  resulting  from  it  is  false. 
Man  was  never  lost,  nor  in  danger  of  being  lost :  that 
ill  his  history  that  looks  most  like  it  is  his  belief  of 
such  a  fable.     The  damnation  from  which  Jesus  is 
supposed  to  save  men  only  exists  in  the  imagination 
of  those  who  believe  in  this  soul-enslaving  supersti- 
tion.    When  I  ask  for  the  evidence  on  which  the  faith 
in    eternal    damnation    rests,   I   am   pointed  to   the 
Bible,  which  I  am  told  is  God's  word.     Before  believ- 
ing such  a  doctrine  on  the  statement  of  the  Bible,  you 
ought  to  be  as  certain  that  the  Bible  is  true  as  that 
your  head  is  on  your  shoulders.     The  very  fact  that 
the  Bible  teaches  it  is  sufficient  evidence  that  the  Bible 
is  untrue.     Where,  0  Nature,  my  mother !  dost  thou 
teach  such  a  horrible  doctrine  as  these  ignorant  chil- 
dren of  thine  are  blasting  men's  souls  with  ?     Not  in 
the  south  wind,  that  sweeps  over  the  land  to-day  with 
life  and  beauty  following  in  its  path.     Out  of  the  cold 
arms  of  winter  springs  the  land  ;  the  loosened  streams 
are  leaping  from  the  hills  with  musical  cadence ;  the 
green  grass  is  peeping  ;  the  buds  are  swelling ;  and  the 
long-silent  birds  are  pouring  their  melody  into  our 
souls.     How  these  voices  give  the  lie  to  this  howling 
blasphemy  !     Thou  sun,  that  turns  the  world  over,  and 
warms  it  into  life ;  that  kisses  the  cheek  of  the  cottager's 
child,  and  smiles  on  the  beggar  as  sweetly  as  on  the 
pompous  bishop ;  that  lights  up  the  malefactor's  cell  as 


,^ 


24 


MAN  S  TEUE  SAVIORS. 


gloriously  as  the  cathedral,  —  thou  prcachest  a  gospel 
in  whicli  no  such  soul-harrovvhig  dogma  is  found. 

The  headache  of  the  drunkard  is  but  the  voice  of 
Nature  saying  to  him,  "  Do  thyself  no  harm."  The 
burn  of  the  child  is  painful ;  but  the  pain  teaches  it  a 
lesson  that  it  needs  to  learn;  and,  if  the  burn  is  so 
severe  that  it  must  die,  Nature  wraps  her  arms  about 
^  the  little  one,  sends  it  into  a  precious  sleep,  and  wakens 
il  for  a  start  in  a  higher  life. 

How  could  damnation  be  the  penalty  for  man's  doing 
what  by  virtue  of  his  very  constitution  he  must  do  ? 
Man  w^as  as  certain  to  sin  as  a  green  apple  is  to  bo 
sour ;  and  time  and  favorable  conditions  are  as  neces- 
sary to  cure  him  as  to  ripen  and  sweeten  the  apple. 

But,  if  men  were  never  liable  to  damnation,  the 
necessity  for  evangelical  salvation  never  existed.  God 
never  allowed  the  Devil  to  rend  the  world  ;  and  there 
never  was  any  need  for  his  Son  to  come  from  heaven 
to  patch  it.  God  never  hurled  the  world  into  the  pit 
of  perdition  with  his  right  hand;  and  there  was 
therefore  no  necessity  for  him  to  lower  the  rope  of  sal- 
vation down  with  his  left  for  the  lost  wretches  to  seizo 
by  faith.  Men  never  were  far  from  God ;  and  they 
consequently  need  no  one  to  bring  them  nigh.  They 
were  never  damned,  nor  in  danger  of  it;  and  Ortho- 
dox salvation  is  as  unnecessary  as  a  lightning-conductor 
in  a  coal-mine. 

The  method  by  which  God  is  supposed  to  save  men 
through  faith  in  Jesus  shows  monstrous  absurdity  and 
cruelty  on  the  part  of  God  who  offers  it,  and  great 
unmanliness  on  the  part  of  those  who  accept  it.  Man, 
the  finite,  has  sinned  against  an  infinite  God ;  he  has 


I 


MAN  S  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


25 


f 


broken  his  most  holy  law:  and  God  justly  consigns 
him  to  eternal  torments ;  and  it  is  only  by  an  exercise 
of  his  infinite  mercy  that  a  way  of  escape  has  been 
provided.     So  much  Orthodoxy  assumes.     It  is  evi- 
dently false  ;  for  nothing  can  be  more  unjust  or  unrea- 
sonable.    All  men  sin  everywhere,  and  have  always 
done  so:  it  is  therefore  evident  that  wrong-doing  is 
inevitable.     What  God  could  punish  men,  and,  above 
all,  eternally  punish   them,  for  doing  what,  in   the 
nature  of  things  (and  these  he  had  himself  made),  all 
of  them  must  do?     Tie  up  your  boy's  legs,  and  flog 
him  till  his  back  is  gory,  because  he  does  not  run  six 
miles  an  hour;  keep  him  without  food  for  three  days, 
and  then  kill  him  because  he  steals  a  crust  from  your 
pantry,  — and  you  are  a  kind,  considerate  parent,  com- 
pared  to  a  God  who  makes  men  with  a  strong  dispo- 
sition to  do  wrong,  permits  a  Devil  to  tempt  them,  and 
then  annexes  the  penalty  of  eternal  damnation  to  the 
crime  of  wrong-doing. 

God  is  angry  with  the  sinner :  the  wratii  of  his  in- 
dignation boils.  With  the  sword  of  vengeance  in  his 
hand,  he  is  ready  to  strike  the  fatal  blow.  Just  as  the 
glittering  blade  ij^  about  to  descend,  the  innocent  Jesus 
appears  on  the  stage.  "  Spare,  oh,  spare  the  sinner !  " 
says  Jesus.  "  Only  on  one  condition."  —"  Name  it," 
says  Jesus.  "  Thou  must  die  in  his  stead,  or.  my  jus- 
tice can  never  be  satisfied."  — ''  I  will :  let  the  blow 
descend."  God  plunges  the  sword  of  his  justice  into 
the  heart  of  Jesus,  and  then  receives  the  sinner  to  his 
bosom  graciously ;  and  he  goes  on  his  way,  singing, 

"  Jesus  has  paid  the  debt  we  owe, 
Aud  God  is  satisfied." 


1 


li 


26 


man's  true  saviors. 


To  save  man  by  such  a  plan,  supposing  it  to  be  pos- 
sible, is  to  sink  him  in  meanness  and  degradation.  So 
instinctively  do  men  scorn  it,  that  mesmeric  excite- 
ments, under  tlie  name  of  revivals  of  religion,  are  got 
up  to  overcome  this  natural  repugnance.  We  have 
sinned,  —  such  is  the  doctrine,  —  and  are  justly  sub 
ject  to  punishment ;  but  an  innocent  being  olfers  to 
bear  the  penalty,  if  we  will  believe  in  him,  accept  him, 
and  bow  down  to  liim.  "  No,  thank  you,  Jesus,  no  ! 
I  much  prefer  to  bear  the  consequences  of  my  own 
transgressions,  that  I  may  learn  tlie  lesson  from  them 
that  nature  inculcates,  and  whose  tendency  is  to  make 
me  wiser  and  better.  There  may  be  men  who  wish  to 
dodge  the  consequences  of  their  deeds :  they  may  ac- 
cept your  offer;  but  I  cannot,  —  still  less  if,  in  accept- 
ing it,  I  am  at  the  same  time  to  accept  of  you  as  my 
master."  If  to  hell  I  must  go,  I  will  go  a  free  man, 
and  with  that  sense  of  manhood  that  must  transform 
the  pit  of  perdition  into  paradise. 

I  charge  this  doctrine  with  being  not  only  false,  but 
dreadfully  pernicious.  If  Jesus  bears  away  the  con- 
sequences of  our  guilt,  takes  our  place,  washes  us  in 
his  blood,  so  that,  though  black  as  ink,  we  can  in  an 
instant  be  made  white  as  snow,  why  should  we  struirirlo 
for  purity  ?  why  should  we  wrestle  with  temptations 
daily,  and  strive  earnestly  to  live  lives  in  harmony  with 
our  ideal  of  manhood?  Faith  in  Jesus  must  be  of 
infinitely  more  importance  than  faithfulness  to  princi- 
ple :  to  obtain  the  cloak  of  his  righteousness,  and  skulk 
under  it,  and  be  credited  with  the  merit  that  belongs 
to  another,  becomes  much  more  important  than  to  live 
a  righteous  life  ;  and  thus  the  Church,  by  its  acceptance 


i 


",.  • 


i 


•^ 


.  JMAN  S  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


27 


of  this  doctrine,  makes  men  satisfied  with  a  tenth-rate 
morality,  and  puts  off  the  day  of  the  world's  redemp- 
tion. 

What,  then,  shall  we  do  to  be  saved?  Evils  are 
around  us  like  mosquitoes  in  July:  like  bloodhounds, 
whose  scent  can  never  be  baffled,  tiiey  dog  our  foot- 
steps. Not  a  soul  but  needs  salvation  from  them  ;  how 
j<hall  it  be  obtained  ?  Let  us  see  what  has  saved  us  in 
times  past. 

Once,  man  trod  the  wild,  a  naked  savage.     The  sun 
scorched  him  by  day,  and  the  cold  wind  chilled  him  as 
he  lay  on  the  branches  of  a  tree  at  night.     The  sleet 
fell  upon  his  bare  breast,  and,  melting,  ran  in  streams 
to  his  feet.     He  searched  the  woods  for  wild  fruit,  and 
dined   on   acorns,  crab-apples,  wild   i)lums,  and   chest- 
nuts, or  roots  that  he  scratched  out  of  the  ground.     At 
times,  he  outran  the  wild  rabbit,  sucked  its  warm  blood, 
and  ate  its  quivering  liesh,  nor  thought  of  better  fare.' 
What  saved  him  from  this  pitiable  condition?     What 
taught  him  to  build  a  house,  clothe  himself  with   be- 
fitting garments,  and  thus  bid  defiance  to  the  elements  ? 
Nature,    that   brought   man    into   existence,   did   not 
launch  him  on  the  ocean  of  life  without  a  pilot  or 
charts,  merely  promising  to  supply  them  at  some  future 
time.     She  did  not  send  Jesus  with  a  beacon-light  four 
thousand  years  afterwards,  and   make  the  success  of 
Jnillions  of  vessels  depend   upon   their  ability  to  see 
what  to  most  of  them  in  the  nature  of  things  was  in- 
visible.    The  first  man  carried  his  savior  in  his  soul, 
and  uo  man  since  has  ever  been  destitute ;  and  just  in 
proportion  as  men  have  attended  to  this  savior  have 
they  been  delivered  from  evil,  saved  IVum  sin  and  !:,uf. 


i 


\ 


i 


!      I 


28 


MAN  S   TRUE   SAVIORS. 


feriug,  and  led  into  truth  and  right,  and  tho  heaven 
that  invariably  accompanies  them.  By  using  his  men- 
tal powers,  man  learned  to  spin  and  weave,  and  make 
for  himself  garments  for  all  seasons  and  all  weather : 
it  was  thus  he  learned  to  fashion  the  wooden  club,  tho 
hammer  and  axe  of  stone,  then  of  bronze,  and,  lastly,  of 
steel,  to  fell  the  trees,  to  dig  tho  stone,  to  burn  tho 
lime,  and  rear  his  household  home  ;  and,  in  process  of 
ages  numerous,  the  naked,  houseless  savage  was  trans- 
formed into  artistic  man.  xind  all  this  long  before 
Adam  rose  or  fell,  before  the  snake  was  cursed,  or  tho 
Bible  Saviour  promised. 

In  the  times  of  old,  man  wearily  wandered  over  tho 
earth  :  if  he  wished  to  go  a  hundred  miles,  every  step 
had  to  be  taken  by  his  own  feet.  He  climbed  the 
rugged  mountain-steeps,  waded  or  swam  the  streams, 
threaded  his  way  through  the  wilderness,  and  with 
bleeding  feet  and  exhausted  body  arrived  at  his  destina- 
tion. He  saw  tho  wild  steed ;  and  increasing  intelli- 
gence taught  him  its  use;  with  a  stem  of  a  vine  for  a 
bridle,  he  mounted,  and  with  exultant  spirit  bounded 
the  country  over.  As  his  intelligence  further  in- 
creased, he  levelled  the  hills,  filled  the  valleys,  bridged 
the  streams,  united  distant  lands  by  highroads  and 
railroads,  over  which  flies  the  locomotive,  outstripping 
the  eagle  in  its  flight. 

Where  we  now  assemble,  and  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands find  ample  subsistence,  a  hundred  savages  would 
have  starved  three  hundred  years  ago.  Take  a  glance 
backward,  and  view  this  region  as  it  was.  The  beasts 
of  the  chase  have  fled  ;  deep  snow  covers  the  ground, 
and  hunger  dwells  in  every  miserable  hut ;  hollow-eyed 


^ 


man's  true  saviors. 


29 


men  and  women  look  into  the  wan  faces  of  their  fam- 
ishing children,  who  vainly  cry  for  food  ;  the  last  bone 
is  picked,  the  last  scrap  of  skin  roasted  and  eaten : 
death  calls  them  one  by  one,  and  with  returning  spring 
the  prowling  wolves  pick  their  bones.  What  saves  us 
from  such  a  fate  to-day  ?  Our  increased  intelligence. 
This  taught  us  to  plough,  to  sow,  to  reap  ;  and  over  our 
broad  land  waves  bread  for  a  world.  The  salvation  of 
Orthodoxy  never  produced  a  blade  of  grass  nor  a  grain 
of  wheat :  it  is  as  powerless  to  stay  the  hunger  of  the 
savage  as  it  is  to  quench  the  deep  thirst  of  the  en- 
lightened soul. 

Ignorance  once  covered  the  land  like  a  pall,  and  Na- 
ture's preachers  discoursed  for  ages  to  deaf  souls.  The 
thought,  as  it  slowly  rounded  itself  in  man's  brain,  had 
no  power  of  projection  from  the  mind  that  gave  it  birth, 
but  lay  there  shrouded,  and  died  with  its  possessor. 
By  the  development  of  his  inherent  nature,  man  grew 
into  speech,  formed  signs  for  sound,  shaped  the  reed, 
and  then  the  feather  that  dropped  from  a  passing  bird's 
wing ;  from  the  waving  flag  by  the  river-side  first,  and 
then  from  a  nation's  tatters,  brought  forth  paper,  and 
made  the  wisdom  of  one  the  property  of  the  many. 
He  ransacked  the  sunless  caves,  and  brought  to  light 

the  iron  and  the  lead,  and  formed  the  printing-press, 

the  multiplier  of  thought,  the   long-wished-for  lever 
that  moves  the  world. 

In  his  infancy  man  was  terrified  by  eclipses  that 
swallowed  the  day,  and  comets  whose  fiery  hair 
streamed  over  the  evening  sky,  and  portended  to  him 
most  fearful  calamities.  He  saw  in  storms,  tornadoes, 
volcanoes,  and  earthquakes  the  presence  of  angry  gods 


a 


\ 


30 


MAN  S  TEUE  SA VICES. 


t, 


h  ! 


1 1 


or  devils,  whose  wrath  could  only  be  turned  away  by 
bloody  and  cruel  ceremonies.  Science  soothed  and 
comforted  him:  she  put  into  his  hand  the  telescope, 
and  brought  these  monsters  of  the  sky  into  his  home, 
tamed  them,  and  they  became  agreeable  visitants.  She 
has  not  destroyed  storms,  volcanoes,  and  earthquakes  ; 
but  she  has  taught  us  how  to  foretell  storms,  informed 
us  where  earthquakes  are  most  likely  to  occur,  and 
pointed  out  the  natural  causes  that  produce  them. 

Tiiere  was  a  time  when  war  was  man's  universal 
trade,  and  its  curses  came  to  every  door  ;  when  whole 
regions  were  ravaged,  and  neither  age  nor  sex  was 
spared.  Man's  growth  in  intelligence  and  benevo- 
lence has  assuaged  its  horrors  ;  made  distant  nations 
acquainted,  and  united  them  by  the  bonds  of  commerce  ; 
has  given  them  peaceful  pursuits,  and  promises  in  time 
to  destroy  all  war,  and  usher  in  the  reign  of  universal 
peace. 

Man's  intelligence  docs  not  enable  him  to  cure  all 
sickness  ;  but  it  does  bettor.  It  teaches  multitudes  how 
to  prevent  sickness,  and  will  ere  long  instruct  all,  as 
it  has  already  by  the  discovery  of  anaesthetics  robbed 
pain  of*  its  terrors. 

What  is  it  that  saves  us  now  ?  It  is  a  summer's  eve- 
ning: a  dark  cloud  rolls  its  sable  folds  over  the  sky. 
Who  shall  save  us  from  the  bolt  launched  ap|)arently 
for  our  destruction  ?  It  strikes :  we  are  stunned  ;  but 
that  slender  rod  saved  us  :  along  it  the  fiery  flash 
descended  harmless  to  the  ground.  Franklin  is  our 
savior,  and  science  instructed  liim. 

The  rain  descends  in  unremitting  showers.  The 
heavens  seem  dissolving,  and  threatc4i  to  wash  tiie  land 


man's  true  saviors. 


31 


'C 


into  the  sea.  The  river  rises.  Down  go  madly  the 
rushing  waters  ;  away  the  piers  of  the  bridge  are  swept; 
the  bridge  itself  swings,  sways  for  an  instant,  and  is 
gone  ;  its  timbers  are  hurrying  down  the  stream.  The 
toll-house  still  remains,  a  frail  island  in  the  rushins: 
river ;  but  the  waters  are  rising :  they  are  washing 
away  its  foundations.  See  that  boy  on  the  housetop 
waving  his  handkerchief,  a  woman  at  the  windov^^, 
lookuig  at  the  angry  waters,  and  wringing  her  hands 
in  despair  !  Hear  the  hoarse  cries  of  the  father  as  Im 
calls  for  help  !  In  vain  is  faith.  Prayers,  psalms,  hymns, 
Bibles,  can  do  nothing.  Neither  the  virgin  nor  her  Son 
can  aid  the  perishing  family,  and  we  shudder  as  we  see 
what  must  be  their  fate.  But  here  conies  a  boat 
rowed  by  strong  arms.  They  are  saved  !  Children, 
mother,  father,  all  are  saved  just  as  their  home  goes 
dashing  down  the  boiling  flood.  What  saved  them  ? 
Science  and  benevolence,  —  science,  that  taught  men 
to  build  the  boat ;  and  benevolence,  or  kindly  feeling, 
which  is  the  heritage  of  humanity,  of  which  no  church 
has  a  monopoly ;  which  the  people  called  wicked  by  the 
Orthodox  often  manifest  more  strongly  than  those  they 
consider  most  pious :  these  were  the  saviors  of  this 
family,  as  Ihcy  are  the  great  saviors  of  mankind. 

It  is  night :  the  last  lamp  has  shut  its  eye,  and 
calmly  the  stars  look  down  on  the  sleeping  city. 
Wrapped  in  soundest  slumber  we  lie  as  the  hours  uncon- 
sciously fly.  We  are  aroused  by  clanging  bells :  what 
a  glare  lights  up  the  room  !  Elear  the  tramp  of  hurry- 
ing feet  in  the  street  below,  and  that  most  fearful  cry 
of ''  Fire,  fire !  "  We  follow  the  rushing  tlirong.  There 
is  the  building:  how  the  flames  lick  it  with  their  fiery 


32 


man's  true  saviors. 


I: 


tongues,  and  then  leap  as  if  in  ecstasy  above  their  vic- 
tims !  How  well  it  is,  we  think,  that  all  have  escaped  ! 
But  they  have  not.  Hear  those  screams,  louder  than 
the  crackling  fire.  It  is  a  mother's  voice,  "  Save,  oh, 
save  my  child!  "  The  flames,  like  fiery  serpents,'  are 
on  every  side,  ready  to  devour  her,  and  there  is  no  pros- 
pect of  escape.  "0  God,"  she  cries  in  her  anguish, 
"save  mv  child!  " 

Hearts  throb,  and  eyes  are  dim  with  tears.     What 
is  that  rising  through  the  smoke  ?     A  ladder !     I  hear 
the  oath  of  the  fireman,  though  I  cannot  see  him,  as 
he  calls  to  his  men.     It  is  placed  against  the  devoted 
building:  the  hose  from  a  steam  fire-engine  play  on 
each  side  of  the  window,  and  beat  back  the  flames  ;  and 
the  arms  of  the  kind-hearted,  though  rough-handed 
and  rough-tongued  fireman,  bear  mother  and  baby  in 
safety  to  the  ground  amid  the  joyful  shouts  of  the  de- 
lighted spectators.    They  are  safe  !    What  saved  them  ? 
Prayer,  in  her  case,  was  powerless  as  the  breath  tliat 
uljpred  it :  the  salvation  of  the  Christian,  if  trusted  in, 
could  but  have  paralyzed  the  arm  of  endeavor.     What 
church  would  open  its  doors  to  the  fireman  that  saved 
her?     What   future   awaits   him  if  Orthodoxy  is  to 
decide  ?     Yet  he  was  a  savior  :*  science  aided  him,' 
benevolence    impelled   him.     Intelligence    and    love,' 
man's  great  deliverers  in  every  age,  —  they  have  cured 
a  thousand  ills  under  which  we  suffered  in  the  past, 
and  promise  to  cure  or  relieve  all  that  remain. 

Science  has  sunk  wells  in  the  desert,  opened  foun- 
tains  by  hundreds  in  the  sandy  waste,  and  made  it 
blossom  as  the  rose.  It  has  dug  mines  innumerable, 
and  brought  up  blessings  from  the  flinty  bosom  of  the 


man's  true  saviors. 


33 


.earth.  It  has  clothed  us,  heated  our  apartments,  and 
shorn  winter  of  its  rigor.  It  has  robbed  tlie  small-pox, 
that  terrible  scourge,  of  its  horrors,  cleansed  our  cities, 
and  said  to  the  dreaded  cholera,  "  Touch  not  my  chil- 
dren, and  do  those  who  obey  me  no  harm."  Aided 
by  benevolence,  it  has  reformed  our  prisons,  and  ban- 
ished the  tortures  that  were  so  prevalent  when  the 
Church  ruled  the  land,  and  the  Bible  was  regarded  as 
the  fountain  of  all  law.  They  have  entirely  changed 
the  character  of  our  insane-asylums.  Wretched  crea- 
tures are  no  longer  chahied  in  bare  rooms,  and  left  in 
nakedness,  filih,  and  cold,  to  howl  and  scowl  their  mis- 
erable lives  away,  as  they  were  not  a  hundred  jears 
ago,  but  are  treated  with  better  sense  and  greater 
kindness,  and  generally  restored  to  their  friends  in  the 
possession  of  health  of  body  and  soundness  of  mind. 

By  railroads  and  steamships  science  is  uniting  us 
with  all  mankind  in  bonds  so  firm  that  war  can  never 
sever.  Already  we  are  shaking  hands  with  China  and 
Japan.  The  barriers  are  falling  that  our  mutual  igno- 
rance erected ;  and  in  time  we  shall  become  so  well 
acquainted  with  other  nations,  and  our  interests  be  so 
inseparably  connected  with  theirs,  that  war  will  be- 
come impossible. 

By  physiology  science  is  teaching  us  daily  the  laws  | 
of  health,  and  supplying  us  with  motives  to  obedience  ; 
and,  wherever  its  instructions  are  heeded,  the  average 
duration  of  human  life  is  increasing.  By  geology  it 
has  enabled  us  to  discard  the  old  biblical  fables  of  the 
earth's  and  man's  creation,  and  shown  us  the  orderly 
development  of  organic  beings  during  ages  of  which 
the  Jewish  cosmogonist  never  dreamed  ;  and  by  phre-  j 


i' 


34 


man's  true  saviors. 


MAN  S  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


35 


u 


i 


j  nology  It  has  revealed  to  us  the  cause  of  the  strong- 
propensities  to  wrong-doing  which  some  persons  possess? 
and  thus,  by  placing  a  double  guard  where  the  dan-er 
was  greatest,  much  evil  has  been  nipped  in  the  bud  ''hi 
demonstrating  to  us  that  the  basis  of  all  intoxicati.icr 
drinks  IS  alcohol,  and  tliat  this  is  au  acrid  poison,  i^t 
has  saved  countless  tliousands  from  drunkenness  and 
all  Its  attendant  evils,  and  it  will  in  time  banish  it  from 
the  earth. 

Science,  or  knowledge,  does  more:  it  robs  death  of 
Its  terrors.     It  has  revealed  to  many  of  us  a  spirit  in 
all  organic  existences,  and  its  conscious,  continued  ex- 
istence  in  man ;   and   comforted    millions   by  givin- 
them  the  absolute  assurance  of  life  after  death  has 
destroyed  the  body.     It  says  to  tlie  mourner,  -  Dry  un 
your  tears:  they  are  not  dead,  but  born  anew  into  a 
higher  life.      The  earth  claims   the  body ;  but   that 
which  you  loved,  the  spirit  that  animated  it,  is  yet  in 
existence,  and  you  shall  meet  again."     It  reveals  no 
hell,  it  tells  of  no  Devil,  and  shows  tlie  impossibility  of 
both.     It  preaches  no  forgiveness,  it  is  true;   but  it 
shows  the  possibility  of  outgrowing  the  effects  of  wron- 
doing  and  how  to  enjoy  by  right-doing  the  bliss  that 
invariably  flows  therefrom. 

What  is  it,  my  brother,  that  curses  you,  and  from 
which  you  wish  to  be  delivered  ?  There  are  but 
ew  evils  from  which  a  man  cannot  be  saved  in  this 
life;  and  all  that  this  life  fails  to  cure,  the  next  will 
in  my  opinion,  accomplish.  ^' I  am  poor :  my  povertv 
troubles  me."  Give  me  your  hand,  my  brother:  I 
have  been  just  where  you  are,  and  I  can  sympathize 
with  you.     You  can  be  saved.     If  there  had  been  as 


much  pains  taken  in  Boston  to  save  men's  bodies  as 
there  has  been  to  save  their  souls,  you  would  not  be 
poor.      But  you  must  never  remain  where  you  are. 
Cursed  is  the  man  who  is  poor;  but  doubly  cursed  is  the 
man  who  is  content  to  be  poor.     You  must  be  econom- 
ical ;  and  I  will  not  ask  you  to  be  more  so  than  I  liave 
been.     Stop  tobacco  chewing  and  smoking  instantly. 
"  My  tobacco  only  costs  me  three  cents  a  day."     Yes ; 
but  three  cents  a  day  is  nearly  eleven  dollars  a  year. 
Stop  tliat  glass  of  lager-bier:  there  is  no  value  in  it  to 
you,  and  it  costs  money,  which  you  cannot  afford.    Let 
rich  raen  waste  money  on  such  folly  if  they  choose : 
you  must  not  do  it  if  you  would  conquer  poverty. 
Drink  no  longer  tea  and  coffee.     "  Why,  you  would 
take  away  all  my  comforts,"  I  hear  you  say.     When 
you  have  ceased  from  the  use  of  them,  you  will  find 
that  it  was  the  use  that  made  the  appetite  for  them, 
and  caused  them  to  appear  necessary.     Hot  water,  and 
milk  and  sugar  taken  wi.h  it,  as  with  tea  and  coffee, 
is  more  wholesome,  cheaper,  and  in  time  you  will  like 
it  just  as  well.     Cease  eating  rich  cakes  and   lard- 
crusted  pies;  live  simply;  buy  nothing  because  it  is 
fashionable.      You  may  save,  the  poorest  of  you,  by 
strict  economy,  fifty  dollars  a  year.     Buy  with  that  a 
piece  of  land  (if  you  had  what  is  justly  yours,  you 
might  get  it  without  buying):    build  a  liouse  of  your 
own  on  it  as  soon  as  possible,  if  there  are  no  more  than 
two  rooms  in  it.     I  have  lived  in  a  house  with  one, 
and  know  the  happiness  of  the  man  who  has  a  foot- 
hold on  this  planet,  and  a  home  that  does  not  belong 
to  another. 

You  are  sick,  and  that  makes  you  unhappy.      But 


36 


man's  true  saviors. 


':  r 


what  a  blessing  it  is  tliat  the  best  of  medicines  can  be 
had  for  nothing!  and,  if  you  have  vitaHty  enough  left, 
they  can  cure  you.  If  not,  you  will  be  better  without 
your  body;  and  death  will  relieve  you  from  its  burden. 
Exercise  in  the  open  air,  sunshine,  pure  water,  plain 
food,  —  these  are  the  medicines  I  recommend  to  you  : 
the  medicines  you  buy  of  the  apothecary  are  generally 
as  useless  as  they  are  dear. 

You  are  a  drunkard,  I  do  not  despise  you.  I  do 
not  tell  you  to  wash  m  the  blood  of  Jesus  ;  for  if  you 
could  you  would  be  no  cleaner,  and  the  same  quantity 
of  whiskey  would  make  you  just  as  drunk.  You 
must  abandon  all  intoxicating  drinks,  from  brandy  to 
hard  cider :  that  is  the  only  way  by  which  you  can 
obtain  salvation.  In  time,  all  taste  for  these  drinks 
will  die  out,  and  you  will  be  a  free  man.  This  rem- 
edy is  infallible,  and  as  good  for  prevention  as  it  is  for 
cure.  It  has  saved  every  man  that  fairly  tried  it,  and 
its  benefit  has  been  incalculable. 

You  have  large  amativeness,  and  at  times  this  pas- 
sion is  your  master.     Do  not  suppose  that  you  are  the 
only  man  in  the  world  in  the  same  condition.     This 
passion  is  the  strongest ;  for  only  by  its  exercise  can 
the  race  be  perpetuated.     But  you  must  not  allow  it 
to   master  you.     The   man,   the  essential   man,   the 
reasonable  man,  the  moral  man,  must  be  the  master  ; 
and  this  can  be  done.     You  must  be  temperate  in  all 
things :  abandon  tea,  coffee,  tobacco  in  all  its  forms, 
and  intoxicating  drink  in  every  shape.     The  use  of 
these  increases  the  power  of  the  animal  propensities, 
while    at  the   same   time   it  weakens   the   will,   and 
obscures  the  judgment.     Pepper,  mustard,  spices,  and 


man's  TRUE  SAVIORS. 


87 


hi 


all  condiments,  if  used  at  all,  should  be   used   very 
spanngly.     Never  read  books  that  appeal  to  amative- 
ness,  and  arouse  it.     Work  hard,  so  that  sleep  will 
overtake  you  as  soon  as  your  head  reaches  the  pillow 
Do  not  loiter  in  bed  after  you  are  awake  in  the  morn- 
ing,—not  even  on  Sunday.     Have  worthy  objects  of 
thought,  and  they  will  banish  unworthy  ones.     If  you 
are  unmarried,  and  over  twenty  years  of  age,  find  a 
suitable  companion,  and  marry  :  a  good  wife  is  worth 
more  to  most  men  than  a  tliousand  Ciirists. 

"  /  am  ignorant,  and  wish  to  be  saved.''     The  man 
who  knows  he  is  ignorant  is  on  the  highroad  to  knowl- 
edge.    You  feel  what  the  wisest  and  best  have  felt 
and  you  have  no  need  to  be  discouraged.     Resolve  to 
learn  a  little  daily,  and  your  acquisitions  in  a   few 
years  will  surprise  you.     Read,  but  be  sure  to  write  • 
think  for  yourself;  make  some  branch  of  knowledge  a 
specialty,  and  give  a  little  time  to  it  daily.     One  thing 
well  learned  will  give  you  a  taste  for  many  others,  and 
help  you   to  learn  all  others  ;   and  you  will  not  be 
Ignorant  in  all  respects,  whatever  you  may  still  be  in 
many. 

^'But  Ifeartodie:^     Cheer  up:  that  is  the  last 
thing  that  should  trouble  you.     Find  a  good  medium 
for  communication  with  the  spirit-world,  and  you  can 
receive  evidence,    as  thousands    have   done,  of    the 
existence   of   your  friends,   with   warm   and    lovincr 
hearts,  enjoying  existence  more  than  they  did  while 
here.     Death  will  lead  you  to  them,  and   make  you 
one  of  their  number ;  and,  when  you  are  satisfied  of 
this,  your  fear  of  death  will  be  gone,  and  you  will  bo 
saved. 


'f 


38 


man's  true  saviors. 


i 


If 


I 


V 


k 


"  Is  Jesus,  then,  a  savior  in  no  sense  ? ''     AH  good 
men,  and  in  f\ict  all  men,  are,  to  a  certain  exrent, 
saviors.     The  man  A^rho  gives  a  hungry  man  a  dinner 
saves  him  in  one  sense  :  the  woman  who  stands  by  her 
friend  in  sorrow,  and  comforts  her  in  aflliction,  is  also 
a  savior.     The  wagoner  wlio  gave  the  young  girl  his 
great-coat    on    a  wet    night,  — he  too  was  a  savior. 
Little  is  said  about  them  ;  but  there  are  thousands  of 
women    who   are   saving  men,   children,   and   other 
women,  daily  and  hourly.     To  call  this  fanatic  of  Naz- 
areth the  Saviour  of  the  world  is  to  do  injustice  to  the 
noblest  of  mankind.     What  a  grand  list  is  the  li.st  of 
saviors  !  -  Moses,  Jesus,  Confucius,  Gautama,  Socrates, 
Plato,  Watt,  Joan  of  Arc,  Fulton,  Arkwright,  Her- 
schell,    Thomas    Paine,     Tlieodore    Parker,    Fanny 
Wright,  Humboldt,  John  Brown,  Garrison,  Phillips, 
and  hosts  of  others.     To  many  of  them  we  owe  vastly 
more  than  we  do  to  Jesus  ;  and  justice  has  yet  to  be 
done  them  in  the  more  intelligent  future. 

Science  and  benevolence,  in  all  ages,  have  done  the 
work  of  salvation,  and  Orthodox  religion  and  supersti- 
tion have   as   constantly   claimed    tiie   credit.     *'  We 
have  done  it  I  "  exclaim  these  impudent  charlatans. 
"  See  that  dashing  locomotive,  with  a  thousand  pas- 
sengers at  its  heels!     We  fashioned   him  with    our 
hands,  breathed  the  air  of  life  into  his  iron  body,  and 
started  him   on   his  world-wide   mission.     We    gave 
wings  to  the  telegraph,  life  to  the   printing-press  ;  and 
by  us   the  world   has   advanced   to  the  noontide   of 
glory.'^     The  fact  being,  that  they  lay  dozing  in   the 
darkened  church  till  the  scream  of  the  engine  and  the 
galvanic  shock  of  the  telegraph  awakened  them  to  a 


H 


man's  teue  savioes. 


39 


knowledge  of  their  existence.  Take  from  man  all 
that  science  has  done,  and  leave  him  all  that  orthodox 
Christianity  can  do  apart  from  science,  and  what 
would  ho  be  ?  No  house  to  shelter  him  ;  no  garment 
to  clothe  him ;  no  machinery  to  assist  him  •  tiie 
great  universe  a  sealed  book ;  himself  little  more  than 
a  blank  on  one  of  its  pages.  In  a  cave  he  would 
sleep;  and,  when  the  sunbeams  shone  therein  he 
would  wakens,  to  recite  his  prayers  to  the  Mumbo 
Jumbo  of  his  creed,  who  grumbles  in  tlie  thunder,  and 
shows  his  anger  in  the  oak-splitting  lightning. 

If  suionce  and  benevolence  are  our  great  savioi-s 
let  us  cultivate  them.  ' 

"  Science  is  a  child  as  yet ;  but  her  scope  an,l  power  shall  -n-ow, 
And  her  triumphs  in  the  future  shall  diminish  toil  and  w^." 

Let  halls  of  science  be  multiplied,  and  opened  on 
Sunday,  free  for  all.     Let  us  have  lecturers  dealing  in 
facts,  rather  than  priests  dealing  in  fables.    Instead  of 
Bible  societies  and  tract  societies,  let  us  have  societies 
lor  the  distribution  of  knowledge  on  which  the  soul 
can  feed,  and  by  wliich  man  can  make  the  most  of  his 
present  position.     Let  people  understand  the  glorious 
truths  of  astronomy ;  and  let  telescopes  be  as  ,,lentiful 
as  Bibles.     Let  the  truths  of  geology,  which  are  des- 
tined to  supplant  many  of  the  fables  of  theology    be 
fumihar  to  all.     Let  every  child  be  taught  a  knowledge 
ol  its  own  body,  and  its  relation  to  food,  drink,  air 
I'gl-t   &c. ;  and  thus  will  the  ravages  of  disease  be' 
stayed  and  a  foundation  for  long  life  and  happiness 
secured.     Let  the   producers  of  the  world's  wealth  be 
secured  the  product  of  their  labor,  and  let  all  idlers  be 


I 


It 


'/ 


40 


man's  true  saviors. 


iti 


ml 


« 


I 


compelled  to  work  or  starve.  Let  Fashion  die,  and  Use 
and  Beauty  take  her  place,  and  the  true  millennium 
will  be  here.  The  fever-breeding  swamps  will  be 
drained,  and  fruitful  gardens  take  their  place  :  where 
the  reed  and  the  flag  grow,  the  apple,  the  pear,  and 
the  peach  shall  flourish  ;  the  wild  woods  will  fall,  and 
stately  palaces  for  humanity  rise.  Tlie  slave  of  capi- 
tal shall  stand  erect,  a  man,  and  rejoice  in  the  fruit  of 
his  labor ;  and  the  prison  for  the  felon  will  be  no  longer 
needed.  The  pope  and  the  priest,  the  king  and  the 
captain,  will  be  loved  and  feared  and  hated  no  more. 
War  will  only  be  known  in  history,  and  Love  shall  be 
at  home  in  every  bosom. 


BE  THYSELF. 


•i 


||! 


BE    THYSELF. 


We  live  in  a  universe  abounding  with  variety. 
The  heavens  present  us  with  systems,  suns,  stars, 
planets,  comets,  meteors,  and  clouds.  Systems  differ 
from  systems  in  shape,  suns  from  suns  in  size.  "One 
star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory."  One  planet 
is  belted,  another  girt  with  rings  ;  comets  and  meteors 
are  as  varied  as  their  numbers.  Clouds  are  never 
twice  alike  :  pile  upon  pile  they  lie,  with  rosy-topped 
mountain- peaks ;  skip  like  silvery  sheep  across  the 
blue  meadow  of  the  sky,  or  lie  like  golden  islands  in 
a  silver  sea. 

The  earth  is  not  less  varied  than  the  heavens. 
Here  the  mountains  lift  up  their  hoary  heads  in 
silent  majesty,  white  with  the  snows  of  a  thousand 
winters;  and  there  lie  the  dusky  valleys,  ten  thou- 
sand feet  below  them,  where  twilight  holds  contioual 
holiday.  The  boundless  plain  stretches  before  us, 
a  wide  expanse  without  a  hillock,  an  ocean  of  drift- 
ing sand  unblessed  by  a  green  blade,  or  a  grassy 
prairie  in  its  virgin  green,  or  clad  in  flowery  beauty ; 
the  placid  lake,  the  leaping  rill,  the  dark  caiion,  the 
river,  rolling  forever  on,  and  the  ocean  girt  by  low 
Band-banks  or  frowning  precipices,  calm  as  a  frozen 

48 


44 


BE  THYSELF. 


lake,  or,  waked  to  wratb  by  furious  stonns,  howling  to 
the  moaning  of  the  winds. 

Nor  are  the  organic  productions  of  the  earth  less 
varied,  —  from  the  cedar  that  rears  its  symmetrical 
head  three  hundred  feet  above  its  roots,  to  the  velvet 
moss  that  carpets  the  ground  at  its  feet.  The  lichen 
clings  to  the  boulder,  the  algaB  to  the  wave-washed 
rock;  the  pine's  leaves  are  spines,  while  a  leaf  of  the 
talipot  palm  will  cover  a  company  of  soldiers.  The 
condor  scales  with  unwearied  wing  the  heights  of  the 
Andes;  the  katydid  chirps  in  the  meadow  its  evening 
hymn ;  the  whale  floats,  an  island  in  the  ocean ;  the 
animalcule  explores  a  drop. 

What  diversity  I  No  two  planets,  no  two  animals, 
lio  two  things,  alike.  Not  only  does  the  oak  differ 
from  the  pine,  and  the  pine  from  the  cedar,  but  no 
man  ever  saw  two  oak-trees  alike,  nor  any  two  leaves 
upon  an  oak.  There  are  no  two  grains  of  sand  alike: 
to  microscopic  eyes  they  would  be  as  diverse  as  boul- 
ders. To  a  stranger  the  sheep  in  a  flock  seem  all 
alike ;  to  the  shepherd  they  are  as  different  as  the  in- 
dividuals  comprising  it,  and  he  can  call  them  all  by 
name.  Nature  never  casts  two  articles  out  of  the 
same  mold :  when  one  is  cast,  she  cracks  the  mold, 
and  makes  a  new  one  for  the  next,  and  thus  secures 
endless  variety. 

Man  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  Look  at  the  vari- 
ety of  races,  —  the  blushing  Caucasian,  the  oblique- 
eyed  Mongolian,  the  dark-skinned  African,  the  black- 
haired,  beardless  American,  the  dumpy  Esquimaux, 
and  the  spindle-shanked  Australian.  Heads  differ, 
eyes  differ,  fingers  differ,  all  parts  differ,  in  every 
man  from  every   other  man,  the  world  over.    That 


BE  THYSELF. 


45 


passing  from  us  which  is  invisible  to  all  diffeis  from 
the  invisible  aura  of  others,  or  how  could  the  dog 
truck  his  master  through  the  crowded  street?  There 
are  said  to  be  from  three  to  four  thousand  languages 
on  the  globe,  from  the  harsh  and  guttural  Esquimaux 
to  the  smootli  and  liquid  Italian.  Every  individual 
has,  in  fact,  peculiarities  of  speech  that  distinguish 
him  from  all  others.  The  voice  reveals  the  person 
when  we  have  no  other  clue ;  and  we  say  that  is 
John,  Mary,  or  Thomas,  when  the  persons  speaking 
are  unseen. 

This  variety  that  we  thus  notice  in  Nature  is  a 
continual  blessing.  Suppose  it  otherwise.  Let  all 
the  heavenly  bodies  be  alike  in  size  and  brightness, 
and  placed  at  equal  distances,  and  we  should  have  a 
celestial  checker-board,  true  to  the  line,  and  pretty  for 
one  look,  but  tame  forever.  Make  all  the  flowers 
roses,  and  who  would  not  miss  the  violet  ?  The  rose 
itself  would  lose  half  its  beauty  for  want  of  contrast 
with  its  less  fair  floral  sisters.  If  all  leaves  were 
alike,  and  all  trees  after  the  same  pattern,  how  the 
dull  landscape  would  fatigue  the  eye  I  Make  all  men 
hke  pins  in  a  paper,  mold  candles  in  a  box,  or  shot 
in  a  barrel,  the  fat  thin,  or  the  thin  stout ;  elongate 
the  short,  or  stunt  the  long;  give  all  eyes  the  same 
expression;  make  all  noses  aquiline  or  Roman,  —  and 
what  a  desert  of  faces  would  surround  us  I  Let  it 
occur  to-day,  what  terrible  mistakes  would  take  place 
before  morning!  There  is  not  an  ugly  sinner  but 
would  pray  for  the  return  of  his  old  face  to  rescue 
him  from  the  dead  level  of  humanity. 

Minds  differ  more  widely  than  faces.  '*  Many  men, 
many  minds,'*  is  a  proverb  as  true  as  it  is  old.     More 


46 


BE  THYSELF. 


BE  THYSELF. 


47 


I 


varied  than  flowers  in  the  garden,  leaves  in  the 
forest,  or  stars  in  the  sky,  are  the  minds  of 
mankind.  Look  into  our  libraries  and  see  the 
products  of  those  minds,  — books  on  every  conceiv- 
able   subject,  and   no  two  alike  even  on  the  same 

subject. 

This  difference  is  seen  in  boys  as  soon  as  the  lutel- 
lect  is  awake,  and  manifests  itself  continually.  Here 
is  a  little  mechanic  saving  his  cents  and  buying  a 
jack-knife,  with  which  ho  whittles  mimic  water- 
wheels.  Sec  him  in  the  brook,  his  little  pants  tucked 
up  to  his  brown  knees,  while  he  rejoices,  as  his  wheel 
spins  round,  like  an  angel  over  a  now  world.  Give 
him  a  chance  to  develop  in  his  own  peculiar  line,  and, 
like  a  Watt  or  a  Fulton,  he  will  yoke  new  steeds  to 
the  car  of  progress,  and   drive   on  the  world  at  a 

diviner  speed. 

Another  little  fellow  is  drawing  horses  on  the  barn- 
door with  chalk,  or  making  little  dogs  out  of  dough 
in  the  kitchen.  An  artist  is  he  in  the  germ;  full 
blossomed  aud  fruited,  the  business  of  his  thinking 
soul  and  obedient  hand  shall  be  to  embody  the 
creatioDS  of  his  genius,  that  shall  bless  the  world 
for  long  centuries  after  he  has  gone  to  more  than 
realize  his  most  glorious   conceptions   in  a  higher 

school  of  art. 

Here  is  a  bom  orator;  mounted  on  a  stump,  he 
harangues  the  village  boys.  Proud  ships  may  sail, 
they  attract  him  not ;  wheels  may  spin,  what  cares 
he?  Could  he  enchain  an  audience  by  his  eloquence, 
earth  has  no  greater  blessing,  heaven  itself  could 
grant  no  more.  To  this  he  devotes  himself;  his  soul 
leads,  he  obediently   follows,  till   multitudes    hang 


breathless  upon  his  words,  while  he  talks  as  a  spring 
leaps  from  the  mountain-side. 

This  farmer  cares  more  for  his  cattle  than  a  mon- 
arch for  his  crown.  Spring  has  driven  winter  from 
the  land,  the  birds  are  singing,  and  he  rejoices  as  he 
drives  his  "jocund  team  a-field.^  Nothing  could  in- 
duce him  to  leave  these  incense-breathing  fields  for 
the  din  and  dust  of  the  city ;  but  the  merchant  de- 
spises the  dull  round  of  the  farmer,  and  is  never 
happy  but  in  the  crowded  mart, —  a  busy  man  among 
busy  men. 

It  is  well  that  it  should  be  so.  Were  all  to  become 
merchants,  the  stock  would  soon  be  spent;  the  river 
of  commerce  would  dry  up,  for  the  rills  of  produc- 
tion would  cease  to  flow.  Were  all  producers,  goods 
would  accumulate  as  water  does  in  lakes,  and  there 
would  be  no  rivers  to  distribute  the  surplus  to  the 
needy  lands.  If  all  were  poets,  painters,  or  orators, 
bread  and  butter  would  be  sadly  deficient ;  and  if  all 
were  plain,  prosy  farmers,  how  much  that  makes  life 
joyous  we  should  lose ! 

As  men*s  intellectual  endowments  differ,  so  do 
their  moral  faculties  and  religious  sentiments.  One 
is  a  born  sceptic;  he  must  see,  hear,  feel,  and  is 
hardly  satisfied  without  tasting  and  smelling,  what  is 
marvellous,  in  order  to  give  it  credence.  He  may  de. 
sire  to  believe ;  but  the  arms  of  his  faith  are  so  short 
that  they  can  not  reach  the  distant  object.  Another 
believes  at  once :  it  is  only  necessary  to  present  the 
statement,  and  he  swallows  it  in  a  moment,  though 
"gross  as  a  mountain."  He  reads  that  the  whale 
swallowed  Jonah,  and  he  lived  three  days  in  his 
belly;    if  he   had   read  that  Jonah  swallowed  the 


48 


BE  THYSELF. 


BE  THYSELF. 


49 


I' 


whale,  he  would  swallow  both,  and  make  no  bones 
about  either.    He  has  no  need  to  pray,— 

"  Stretch  our  faith's  capacity  wider  and  yet  wider  still.' 

The  door  of  his  soul  is  wide  enough  to  take  in  all 
company ;  no  more  to  be  reasonably  praised  for  the 
width  of  his  spiritual  gullet,  than  the  sceptic  blamed 
for  the  narrowness  of  his. 

One  is  firm  as  a  mountain:  he  feels  like  Fitz  James 

when  he  exclaimed,  — 

«*  Come  one,  come  all  I    This  rock  shall  fly 
From  its  firm  base  as  soon  as  I.** 

Another  is  pliant  as  the  wheat-stalk,  that  waves  in 

the  June  breeze. 

This  man  is  spiritual ;  every  breath  that  he  draws 
is  redolent  of  heaven ;  he  mounts  as  naturally  as  the 
freed  bird,  and  carols  in  the  sky;  that  man  gravitates 
to  the  earth  like  a  thunder-cloud  big  with  a  shower. 

The  arms  of  the  benevolent  would  all  mankind  em- 
brace.  If  ho  were  made  of  gold,  his  sympathy  would 
load  him  to  give  himself  away  for  the  benefit  of  man 
kind.  Some  such  give  away  all  that  they  have,  and 
more  than  they  have;  while  the  economical  man's 
purse-strings  are  twined  around  his  heart,  sometimes 
with  a  hard-to-be-loosed  knot  in  them,  and  he  thinks 
ten  times  before  he  gives  once. 

If  all  were  credulous  as  some,  the  world  would 
feed  on  lies,  and  dire  would  be  the  consequence.  If 
all  were  sceptical  as  others,  new  truths  and  strange 
facts  might  stand  knocking  at  the  world^s  heart  for 


centuries  before  they  gained  admission.  If  all  were 
firm  and  unyielding,  progress  would  either  be  im- 
possible or  very  slow  ;  and,  if  all  were  equally  pliant, 
revolutions  would  be  as  plentiful  as  showers  in  spring, 
and  peace  and  stability  would  be  at  an  end.  If  all 
were  spiritual  as  Swedenborg  in  his  later  days,  corn 
and  potatoes  would  be  sadly  deficient;  and  if  all  were 
"  of  the  earth,  earthy,"  we  should  be  no  better  than 
the  savage  in  the  wild. 

There  may  be  too  wide  deviations  from  a  normal 
standard  morally,  as  there  are  intellectually ;  for  some 
are  born  morally  asquint,  as  others  are  physically, — 
deviations  that  require  careful  culture  and  training  to 
overcome.  But  men  as  naturally  difier  in  their  moral 
natures  as  they  do  in  their  physical  constitutions,  and 
the  difierence  thus  existing  is  of  the  greatest  value 
to  the  race.  One^s  religion  is  like  the  sun,  fervid  and 
intense  ;  another's  like  the  moon,  calm  and  beautiful ; 
and  another's  like  the  stars,  bright  and  saint-like;  yet 
all  lovely  as  the  varied  flowers  of  the  meadow,  or  the 
tints  of  the  evening  sky. 

Hence  the  importance  of  'the  exhortation  of  my 
text,  —  Be  Thyself.  There  is  no  originality,  no 
complete  manhood,  without  it.  It  is  the  highest  pre- 
rogative of  the  animal  kingdom,  the  crowning  glory 
of  humanity.  Among  the  coral  polyps,  at  the  base 
of  the  animal  kingdom,  we  have  millions  of  animals 
united  in  one  community ;  what  is  eaten  by  one  is  as  if 
eaten  by  all ;  and  the  will  of  the  individual  is  lost  in 
that  of  the  group,  harmoniously  forming  their  stony 
structures  at  the  sea-bottom.  Among  the  mollusks, 
countless  multitudes  lie  in  one  oozy  bed,  with  little 
scope,  as  there  is  little  inclination;  for  individual 


50 


BE  THYSELF. 


action.  Among  the  fishes  there  13  more  scope ;  but, 
living  in  shoals,  the  will  of  one  is  lost  in  that  of 
the  many.  Among  the  birds  a  few  leaders  control  the 
flock.  Beasts  possess  more  independence;  bnt  the 
strongest  horse  leads  the  band  as  it  sweeps  over 
the  prairie,  and  the  old  male  buffalo  decides  the 
course  of  the  entire  herd.  Ascending  to  man,  there 
13  more  individuality,  and  the  most  among  tlie  most 
highly  developed. 

Even  the  savage  is  an  individual  who  comes  into 
direct  communication  with  Nature  for  himself.     His 
parents  say,  "Shift  for  yourself,''  and  Nature  says  the 
same.     He  learns  where  the  fish  hide,  and  he  spears 
them ;  he  watches  the  beaver,  and  traps  it,  that  he 
may  clothe  himself  with  its   skin.     He   knows  the 
ridge  on  which  the  chestnut  grows;  and,  when  the 
leaves  fall,  he  makes  for  the  winter  a  secret  hoard. 
He  builds  his  own  tent,  supplies  his  fire,  communes 
with  Nature,  and  forms  ideas  of  the  world  in  which 
he  finds  himself.     But  he  must  be  obedient  to  his 
chief,  even  to  death;  and  his  individuality  is  sacri- 
ficed  continually.     Bu£  here  is  the   philosopher   in 
whom  humanity  blossoms,  and  brings  forth  fruit.     In 
him  we  see  the  highest  exemplification  of  self-hood. 
In  him  Nature's  great  endeavor  is  fulfilled,  her  work 
of  the  ages  is  completed.    Reason  sits  on  the  throne ; 
and  the  lawless  propensities  are  subject  to  her  sway. 
He  reads,  hears,  investigates;  and  what  his  judgment 
decides  upon,  that  he  does,  and  hears  the  continual 
plaudit  of  a  good  conscience,  saying,  "  Well  done ! '' 
The  benefits  that  flow  from  the   exorcise  of  this 
self-hood  are  inconceivable.     Among  men  who  prac- 
tice it  are  Emerson,  the  most  original  mind  on  thia 


BE  THYSELF. 


51 


continent,  and  whose  private  life  is  pure  as  his  intel- 
lect is  clear;  Garrison,  whose  manliness  no  force 
could  bend,  and  whose  love  for  the  bondman  was 
only  equaled  by  a  fearless  denunciation  of  his  op- 
pressors;  in  science,  Lyell,  Darwin,  Huxley,  Spen- 
cer, Draper,  independent  free-thinkers,  who  are  de- 
livering the  world  from  ignorance,  enlarging  the 
domain  of  thought,  and  breaking  the  bonds  of  priestly 
bigotry  and  intolerance.  On  the  other  side  are  the 
tools  of  Popish  superstition,  who  dare  hardly  call 
their  souls  their  own;  with  whom  the  word  of  a 
priest  is  potent  as  a  law  of  God;  who  kneel,  and  swal- 
low the  God  baked  but  yesterday  by  the  cook,  and 
dare  not  open  their  shutters  to  let  in  one  ray  of 
heaven's  pure  light ;  the  slaves  of  Episcopal  dominar 
tion,  whose  priests  swear  never  to  be  wiser  than  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  and  who  must  perjure  themselves 
if  they  ever  step  beyond  the  narrow,  creed-made  pale 
that  the  first  step  of  an  infant  mind  would  almost 
overstride;  and,  along  with  these,  the  millions  of 
abject  ecclesiastical  subjects,  whose  spiritual  bond 
age  is  their  pride,  and  who  tremble  when  they  hear  a 
free  thought,  lest  the  heavens  flill,  or  the  earth  gape, 
and  swallow  both  speaker  and  hearers. 

The  world's  heroes  in  poetry,  philosophy,  mechan- 
ics,  and  reform,  have  been  heroic  by  virtue  of  their 
self-hood.  Leave  this  out  of  the  composition  of  a 
man,  and  you  have,  in  poetry,  a  verse-wright  who 
never  dared  to  write  an  original  line ;  in  philosophy, 
a  peddler  of  defunct  ideas ;  and  in  war,  a  poltroon. 
What  made  Homer  the  prince  of  song,  and  enabled 
the  old  "blind  man  of  Ohio"  to  chant  a  strain  which 
the  hills  of  Greece  echoed  for  centuries,  still  heard 


( 


52 


BE  THYSELF. 


across  the  wild  ocean,  and  amid  the  din  and  roar  of 
this  nineteenth  century  ?  He  wrote  in  his  own  inimi- 
table  style  the  beautiful  thoughts  that  crowded  into 
his  brain :  from  the  heaven  of  his  own  creation,  he 
poured  down  those  melodies  which  a  busy  world  on 

tiptoe  stands  to  hear. 

Who  was  Shakspeare's  model?  Whence  did  ho 
draw  the  supplies  of  which  millions  have  drunk  and 
been  refreshed?  With  no  broken  pitcher  did  he  go 
to  another's  well,  but  drew  from  the  cxhaustless  foun- 
tain of  his  own  soul.  lie  stands  to-day  like  a  granite 
mountain,  whose  head  is  lost  in  the  clouds,  and  whose 
culminating  point  no  traveler  has  reached :  as  men 
ascend,  untrodden  hights  lie  still  above  them.  Had 
he  been  a  mere  imitator,  the  molehill  of  his  produ^ 
•tion  would  have  been  long  since  troMen  to  the  dead 

level  of  the  plain.  .    ,    „  „ , 

How  did  Bunyan  write  his  "  Pilgrim's  Progress  7 
As  the  brook  babbles,  taking  no  counsel  of  other 
brooks,  but  telling  its  own  story  in  its  own  way;  and, 
in  spite  of  its  many  absurdities,  the  tinker's  book  wiU 
live  for  centuries.  Copernicus  and  Galileo,  taking 
counsel  of  their  own  souls,  heeding  not  the  monkish 
fable-mongers  who  believed  the  world  to  be  Qat  as 
a  table,  and  the  stars  little  shining  points,  boldly 
marched  into  the  untrodden  realm,  explored  its  seas 
of  worlds,  and  came  back  laden  with  glorious  truths. 

Columbus,  advising  with  no  Past,  old  and  decrepit, 
who  bad  bounded  the  world,  and  inscribed  on  its 
boundary,  "  No  more  beyond,"  launched  his  bark  to 
cross  the  unknown  ocean ;  and  for  weary  weeks  and 
months  sailed  steadily  ou,  on,- the  cloudy  sky  above 
the  inky  sea  around,  —  spite  of  the  frowns,  tears,  and 


BE  THYSELF. 


53 


I 


entreaties  of  the  cowards  who  accompanied  him,  till 
a  new  world,  like  a  radiant  maiden,  leaped  into  his 
arms,  and  blessed  him  for  his  manliness.  We  are  here 
to-day  because  Columbus  dared  to  be  himself. 

It  was  this  self-hood  that  made  Raphael'  the  prince 
of  painters,  and  Napoleon  of  warriors.  ''  He  does  not 
fight  according  to  the  rule,"  said  the  European  fogies. 
No ;  but  he  had  a  rule  of  liis  own  to  fight  by,  and  thus 
he  conquered.  In  Watts,  it  gave  us  the  steam-engine, 
with  its  hundred  hands  and  its  restless  soul ;  and  in 
Fulton,  the  boat  that  heeds  not  wind  or  tide,  whoso 
steam-arm  paddles  day  and  night,  and  never  tires. 
By  it,  Socrates  climbed  the  hights  of  philosophy, 
from  which  it  was  but  a  step  to  the  heaven  into 
which  he  entered. 

Mere  imitators  in  art  never  scale  the  hights ;  but, 
placing  their  feet  in  the  prints  left  by  former  travel- 
ers,  they  tire  themselves  out  with  a  step  that  is  un- 
natural to  them,  and  faint  and  die  by  the  way,  leaving 
no  sign  behind  that  they  have  ever  been.  In  life's 
battle,  they  never  make  heroes,  but  wearing  another 
man's  armor  which  never  fits  them,  and  wielding  a 
weapon  never  made  for  them,  they  accomplish  little, 
and  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  enemy. 

Of  the  hundreds  who  have  imitated  Shakspeare, 
how  many  live  in  remembrance?  They  have  gone 
like  the  smoke  of  the  Indian  wigwam  from  our  land, 
while  he  shines  on  like  a  star.  Books  written  by 
these  imitators  are  mere  repositories  of  twaddle, 
mountains  of  chaff,  great  in  bulk,  but  small  in  nutri- 
inent  for  the  hungry  soul.  A  bonfire  of  them  would 
give  more  light  to  the  world  than  they  can  give  in 
any  other  way.    Most  of  our  theological  works  are 


54 


BE   THYSELF. 


of  this  class,  —  embalmed  hosts  of  dead  men^s  foolish 
thoughts*  a  library  of  them  is  a  catacomb  or  a  mum- 
my pit ;  how  useless  to  look  for  light  or  life  in  them  I 
Men  throw  overboard  their  own  thoughts,  richer  than 
pearls,  and  load  their  barks  with  cast-off,  water-worn 
shells  of  conservatism. 

Books  written  by  thinkers — men  who  thought  and 
dared  to  express  their  thoughts  —  are  always  worth 
reading.  I  care  not  whether  their  authors  were 
Atheists  or  Methodists,  Ileathen  or  Mohammedan;  the 
life^s  blood  of  the  author  circulates  througli  them, 
and  in  reading  you  feel  its  pulsations.  But  books 
written  by  men  who  never  saw  through  their  own 
eyes,  who  never  put  out  their  handi^,  and  fult  the 
world  for  themselves,  nor  took  one  manly  step,  are 
the  faintest  echoes  from  the  distant  hills,  compared 
with  the  heaven-shaking  thunder  that  produced 
them. 

Self-hood  is  as  necessary  in  religion  as  in  art,  sci- 
ence, and  literature.  The  world  has  been  cursed  for 
centuries  by  men  who  have  sought  to  shape  tlie  reli- 
gious element  in  all  after  the  i^amc  model.  Placing 
the  soul  of  man  in  the  crucible  of  sect,  it  has  been 
melted  down,  and  poured  into  some  creed-made  mould: 
its  beauty  marred,  its  original  proportions  destroyed, 
it  stands  a  monument  of  man's  folly,  a  warning  to  all, 
and  speaks  in  loudest  tones  the  language  of  my  text, 
Brother,  sister,  be  thyself  I 

All  great  religious  reformers  have  acted  more  or 
less  on  this  principle.  The  more  fully  they  have 
carried  it  out,  all  other  things  being  equal,  the  wider 
has  been  their  sphere  of  influence,  and  the  more 
good  tlioy  have  accomplished.     What  enabled  Moses 


BE  THYSELF. 


65 


t: 


I 


to  rise  above  the  multitude,  like  a  mountain  in  the 
midst  of  a  vast  plain,  so  high,  that,  at  the  distance  of 
taiity-fivc  hundred  years,  he  stands  out  still  in  bold 
relief  against  the  horizon?  What  magic  was  there  in 
liis  name,  that  Oblivion  swallowed  it  not  with  the  mil- 
lions that  have  disappeared  in  his  never-to-be-satisfied 
maw  ?  Snapping  the  fetters  with  which  the  priests 
of  Egypt  sought  to  bind  his  soul,  he  listened  to  the 
promptings  of  his  heart  as  it  taught  him  a  better  reli- 
gion than  he  had  ever  before  heard;  and  he  hesitated 
not  to  obey  its  requirements.  Leaving  behind  him 
the  enchantments  of  Egypt,  and  the  pleasure  of  Pha- 
raoh's court,  he  became  a  wanderer  in  the  desert, — 
an  excellent  place  for  a  man  to  commune  with  him- 
self. Thence  he  came,  and  stamped  his  soul  upon  the 
Jewish  nation. 

He  dared  to  think  for  himself  on  religious  matters, 
to  face  the  great  universe  and  question  it;  and  with  a 
rare  originality  he  taught  his  countrymen  a  religion  — 
the  answer,  as  he  believed,  to  his  questions  —  far  in 
advance  of  its  predecessors.  But  every  Jew  had  just 
as  much  right  to  question  for  himself  and  cherish  the 
answer  as  he ;  but  this  Moses  would  by  no  means  al- 
low :  the  answer  to  him  must  be  the  answer  for  all. 
Hear  him!  "If  thou  wilt  obey  the  statutes  and  com- 
mandments that  I  command  thee  this  day,  then  blessed 
shaltthou  be  in  the  city  and  in  the  field;  blessed  in 
thy  going-out,  and  blessed  in  thy  coming-in ;  blessed 
in  thy  basket  and  in  thy  store.  But,  if  thou  wilt  not 
obey  them,  cursed  shalt  thou  be  in  the  city  and  in  the 
field ;  cursed  in  thy  going-out  and  coming-in,  in  thy 
basket  and  in  thy  store."  Libert}^,  spontaneity,  sell^ 
hood,  all  mu3t  bo  sacrificed  to  rigid  conformity.    The 


56 


BE  THYSELF. 


Jew  must  be  a  Mosean,  or  destruction  awaited  him. 
Moses  regards  the  seventh  day  as  holier  than  all  others, 
and  consecrates  it  to  rest  for  all  generations ;  and  the 
independent  Israelite,  who  gathered  sticks  upon  that 
day,  is  stoned  to  death.  Moses  thought  an  angry  God 
could  be  appeased  by  burning  sheep,  oxen,  and  doves ; 
and  the  man  who  has  advanced  beyond  this,  who  does 
not  believe  that  God  can  be  pleased  with  the  smell  of 
roasting  beasts,  must  kill  and  roast  his  cattle  notwith- 
standing ;  for  Moses  speaks,  and  will  be  obeyed. 

You  tell  me  that  Moses  received  his  commandments 
from  God ;  yes,  from  the  God  that  is  in  you  and  me, 
and  in  the  same  way  that  we  receive  oura.  He  talked 
with  him  as.  we  talk  with  him  when  we  converse  with 
our  brother ;  and  he  saw  him  as  we  see  him  in  the 
starry  sky,  or  the  grassy  spear  at  our  feet  pointing 
heavenward.  Man  three  thousand  years  ago  was  no 
nearer  to  God  than  we  are  to  day ;  and  the  New-Eng- 
land thinker  can  see  God  on  Mount  Katahdin  as  well 
as  Moses  did  on  Sinai. 

Moses  thus  became  the  model  man  for  the  whole 
Jewish  nation.  Every  child  was  taught,  that  just  in 
proportion  as  he  became  like  Moses,  was  he  a  true 
man,  and  sure  of  God's  blessing ;  as  far  as  he  fell  short 
of  this,  so  far  had  he  departed  from  the  right,  and  was 
subject  to  a  curse. 

After  the  death  of  Moses,  he  was  elevated  by  priest 
and  Levite,  sabbath  after  sabbath,  and  feast  after 
feast ;  his  holy  law  imrolled,  and  weekly  read  to  the 
assembled  multitude.  Moses  was  king,  the  children  of 
Israel  his  subjects.  Moses  was  the  die,  and  the  Jews 
the  coin,  stamped  by  the  repeated  blows  of  their  priests 
with  his  image  and  superscription.     To  be  like  Moses 


BE  THYSELF. 


57 


w 


\ 


was  the  highest  ambition  of  the  noblest  and  best; 
greater  than  he  could  no  man  be  ;  lo  be  wiser  ^vas  im- 
possible, and  to  dream  of  being  better  was  blasphemous. 

Thus  crept  the  nation  snail-like  through  the  dull 
centuries ;  an  oppressive  ritual  upon  their  backs  like 
a  mountain  of  lead,  and  Moses  before  them,  a  dark 
cloud  shutting  out  the  blue  sky  from  their  wistful  gaze. 

But  Nazareth  produced  a  man  who  refused  to  bow 
any  longer  to  the  God,  Moses,  that  had  been  set  up. 
"  One  man  dared  to  be  true  to  what  is  in  you  and  me." 
In  an  ago  of  slaves  he  was  free  ;  in  an  age  of  cowards 
he  was  a  hero.  While  the  whole  nation  was  crawling 
in  the  dust,  Jesus  stood  upon  his  feet,  and  allowed 
his  manhood  to  speak.  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath 
been  said  by  them  of  old  time  (that  is,  by  Moses  and 
the  Moseans),  An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a 
tooth :  but  I  say  unto  you.  Resist  not  evil ;  but  who- 
soever shall  smite  thee  on  the  right  cheek,  turn  to 
him  the  other  also."  "  Again  :  ye  have  heard  it  hath 
been  said  by  them  of  old  time.  Thou  shalt  not  for- 
swear thyself,  but  shalt  perform  unto  the  Lord  thine 
oaths ;  but  I  say  unto  you.  Swear  not  at  all.  Let  your 
communication  be.  Yea,  yea ;  Nay,  nay :  for  whatso- 
ever is  more  than  these  cometh  of  evil.''  We  find  him 
saying,  in  opposition  to  old  Jewdom,  'Why  judge  ye 
not  of  yourselves  what  is  right?"  He  proclaimed 
himself  Lord  of  the  sabbath,  as  every  sensible  man  is, 
and  boldly  set  at  defiance  all  who  attempted  to  fetter 
his  soul.  What  a  consternation  was  there  among  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  the  soul-mongers  of  Judaea  I 
"Have  you  heard  that  mechanic  of  Galilee,  who  is 
traveling  about  the  country  preaching  heresy?  He 
addressed  a  rabble  the  other  day,  when  he  made  him- 


58 


BE  THYSELF. 


*! 


self  superior  to  Moses,  and  set  at  naught  the  Jaw  givea 
by  God  himself  on  Mount  Sinai.     I  understand  that  he 
has  been  saying,  Why  judge  ye  not  what  is  right  your 
selves?  thus  making  men  their  own  lawgivers,  and 
taking  away  the  necessity  for  our  services.     He  is  a 
bold  blasphemer,  whose  mouth  must  be  stopped ;  away 
with  him,  away  with  him,  crucify  him,  crucify  him,  ho 
is  not  lit  to  live  !  "   The  multitude  echo  the  cry,  "  Away 
with  him,  crucify  him  !  "  and  so  they  did ;  and  doubt- 
less thought  there  was  an  end  of  his  doctrine,  and 
their  craft  was  forever  safe.     Never  did  men  make  a 
greater  mistake.      Bury  a  truth  and  it  is  a  seed ;  it 
springs  up,  grows,  and  bears  fruit  a  thousand-fold. 
Kill  a  reformer,  and  his  ghost  does  a  hundred  times 
more  than  the  man  could  ever   have  done  if  alive. 
The  doctrine  of  Jesus  could  not  be  killed,  and  his 
death  seemed  to  give  it  life;  it  spread  far  and  wide; 
mounted  the  hills,  crossed  the  valleys,  was  wafted  over 
the  seas ;  it  mounted  the  throne  of  the  C^sars,  and 
conquered  the  conquerors  of  the  world.     Now  the  de- 
spised Nazarene,  the  young  reformer  of  Galilee,  has 
become  the  esteemed  Saviour.     While  he  lived,  he 
was  no  better  than   the  publicans  and  sinners  with 
whom  he  associated ;  he  had  a  devil,  and  was  mad ; 
he  was  a  pestilent  fellow,  whom  no  Jewish  aristocrat 
would  be  seen  in  company  with  for  the  world.     But 
now  he  is  a  good  man,  a  great  man,  a  prophet ;  nay,  a 
greater  prophet  than  Elias  himself,  then  the  greatest 
and  best  man  that  ever  lived ;  the  Son  of  God,  yea,  t!ie 
only-begotten  Son  of  God ;  and  lastly,  God  Almighty 
from  heaven  I     Men  were  not  satisfied  until  they  had 
unseated  the  Omnipotent,  and  set  the  man  Jesus  upon 
his  thione.     This  is  the  way  the  world  serves  reform- 


■ke 


BE  THYSELF. 


59 


r 


^ 


era ;  there  is  nothing  too  vile  to  say  about  them  while 
they  are  alive,  and  nothing  too  good  when  they  are 
dead,  and  the  world  has  accepted  their  doctrine. 

Moses  was  now  dethroned,  and  Jesus  made  king; 
henceforth  all  must  be  his  obedient  subjects.  Moses 
was  knocked  unceremoniously  off  the  pedestal,  Jesus 
placed  thereon,  and  made  the  model  for  the  whole 
human  race.  "  Looking  unto  Jesus  "  now  becomes 
the  duty  of  all.  The  path  of  life  bears  the  impres- 
sions of  his  feet,  and  it  is  our  duty,  not  to  make  our 
own  impressions,  but  walk  implicitly  in  his ;  for  "  he 
has  left  us  an  example,  that  we  should  tread  in  his 
steps." 

Thus  have  men  destroyed  one  idol  and  set  up  anoth- 
er; and  the  business  of  our  modern  scribes  and  phari- 
sees  is  to  induce  people  to  worship  it.  In  the  name 
of  Jesus  the  freeman,  souls  are  robbed  of  their  birth- 
right, and  the  most  terrible  threatenings  denounced 
against  those  who,  like  him,  dare  to  be  themselves. 
In  the  name  of  humanity,  I  protest  against  this.  Jesus 
our  helper,  our  friend,  our  teacher,  but  never  our 
master  or  tyrant,  who  holds  the  lash  of  future  torment 
over  the  trembling  captive. 

Supposing  the  Jesus  of  the  New  Testament  to  be 
the  veritable  God-man,  who  lived  and  died  that  we 
might  live,  his  example  is  not  such  as  it  would  be  well 
for  mankind  generally  to  follow.  Could  each  man  be 
a  Jesus,  it  would  still  be  infinitely  better  to  be  him- 
self. Looking  at  his  character,  as  drawn  by  his  lour 
biographers,  let  us  see  what  would  be  the  consequence 
of  a  universal  attempt  to  imitate  the  example  of  Jesus. 

He  lived  to  be  above  thirty  years  of  age,  yet  never 
was  married,  never  had  a  wife  to  call  him  husband, 


iii 


60 


BE  THYSELF. 


M' 


nor  a  child,  father.  On  one  occasion  he  said,  "  There 
are  some  eunuchs  which  were  so  born  from  their 
mother's  womb;  and  there  are  some  eunuchs  which 
^\ere  made  eunuchs  of  men,  and  there  be  eunuchs 
which  have  made  themselves  eunuchs  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven's  sake.  He  that  is  able  to  receive  it,  let 
him  receive  it."  Paul,  who  seems  to  have  regarded 
Jesus  as  a  perfect  example,  never  was  married,  and  he 
advised  others  to  imitate  him,  as  he  did  his  master. 
Suppose  men  universally  were  to  shape  themselves 
thus  after  this  model,  would  not  the  consequence  be 
most  disastrous?  The  whole  world  a  Shaker  commu- 
nity, and  in  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  a  wil- 
derness of  wild  beasts  without  a  human  inhabitant. 

According  to  Ma:k,  Jesus  worked  at  the  trade  of  a 
carpenter.  At  the  age  of  thirty  he  abandoned  his 
business  and  went  out  to  preach  the  Gospel.  Walk- 
ing by  the  sea  of  Galilee  he  found  Simon  and  Andrew, 
James  and  John,  fishing ;  he  called  them,  saying,  "  I 
will  make  you  fishers  of  men ; "  they  left  their  fishes 
and  nets,  and  followed  him.  Matthew  sat  at  the  re- 
ceipt of  custom ;  Jesus  passed  by,  and  said,  *'  Follow 
me ; "  and,  strange  to  say,  although  a  Jew,  he  left  his 
mone3'-gathering  business,  and  followed  Jesus.  When 
he  had  in  this  way  taken  twelve  men  from  their  avo- 
cations, and  they  and  a  multitude  were  assembled  to- 
gether, he  preached  to  them  thus :  "  Take  no  thought 
tor  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat  or  what  ye  shall  drink ; 
nor  yet  for  your  body,  what  ye  shall  put  on.  Is  not 
the  life  more  than  meat  and  the  body  than  raiment? 
Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air ;  for  they  sow  not,  neither 
do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns ;  yet  your  heaven- 
ly Father  feedeth  them.     Are  ye  not  much  better  than 


BE   THYSELF. 


61 


ihey  ?  Why  take  ye  thought  for  raiment  ?  Consider 
the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow :  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin.  Therefore  take  no  thought 
saying.  What  shall  we  eat,  or  what  shall  we  drink,  or 
wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed?  For  after  all  these 
things  do  the  Gentiles  seek ;  for  your  heavenly  father 
knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things.  Seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteousness,  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.  Take,  there- 
fore, no  thought  for  the  morruw,  for  the  morrow  shall 
take  thought  for  the  things  of  itself"  Again  he  says, 
'*  Sell  that  ye  have,  and  give  alms."  Suppose  that  men 
were  to  commence  imitating  Jesus  in  this  respect. 
The  tailor  leaves  the  shopboard  and  cloth,  the  black- 
smith the  hammer  and  anvil,  the  farmer  the  plow,  aud 
the  weaver  the  loom ;  millers  cease  to  grind,  and  bakers 
to  bake,  and  each  commences  to  preach ;  and  as  they 
preach,  they  say,  "  God  has  given  you  life,  will  he  not, 
also,  give  you  food  to  sustain  that  life?  Cease  working, 
then,  and  trust  in  him.  He  has  given  you  bodies  with- 
out any  effort  of  your  own ;  will  he  not  much  more 
clothe  those  bodies  without  any  labor  on  your  part? 
Look  at  the  sparrows  and  the  pigeons;  they  neither 
sow  nor  reap,  and  yet  God  feeds  them.  Consider  the 
wild  roses ;  see  how  beautiful  they  are,  and  how  well 
clothed ;  the  purple  robe  of  a  king  is  not  equal  to  theirs, 
iuid  yet  they  neither  spin  nor  weave.  Therefore  take 
no  thought  about  what  you  shall  eat  or  wear,  but  trust 
in  God,  who  feeds  the  sparrows  and  clothes  the  grass, 
and  it  will  all  be  well." 

The  consequences  of  generally  practicing  such  un- 
philosophical  doctrine  would  be  starvation  and  ruin. 
It  miglit  answer  well  for  Jesus  and  his  disciples  to  do 


62 


BE   THYSELF. 


I  ■" 


thus,  for  others  were  sowing,  reaping,  baking,  and  fish- 
ing for  them,  and  supplying  their  necessities.  If  it 
had  not  been  so,  their  preaching  and  practice  would 
have  by  no  means  corresponded  ;  for  they  would  have 
discovered  that  loaves  do  not  grow  ou  bushes,  nor 
clothes  on  trees,  and  that  though  birds  may  be  fed 
without  sowing  and  reaping,  it  is  otherwise  with  hu- 
man beings. 

On  one  occasion,  Jesus  went  into  the  temple,  and 
found  there  money  changers,  and  the  sellers  of  oxen, 
sheep,  and  doves;  and  after  he  had  made  a  scourge  of 
cords  he  drove  them  out,  poured  out  the  changers' 
money  and  overthrew  the  tables;  this,  too,  after  preach- 
ing non-resistance  to  its  utmost  extent.  An  imitation 
of  such  conduct  would  hardly  be  tolerated,  nor  would 
its  influence  be  beneficial.  His  denunciation  of  the 
Sci  ibes  and  Pharisees  is  terrible ;  they  were  surely 
not  all  bad,  all  "serpents"  and  of  the  "  generation  of 
vipers,"  all  "fools  and  blind ;  "  3^et  he  makes  no  excep- 
tions, but  fulminates  his  woes  against  them  in  the  most 
oiFeusive  manner.  If  they  were  thus  bad,  how  much 
would  his  denunciations  do  toward  reforming  them  ? 
And  among  a  large  class  like  this,  there  must  have  been 
some  noble  characters. 

He  told  his  disciples  in  the  beginning  of  his  minis- 
try not  to  preach  his  doctrines  to  the  Gentiles,  and 
states  himself  that  he  preached  in  parables  that  others 
"  seeing  might  not  see,  and  hearing,  they  might  not 
understand."  When  the  people  ask  him  very  reason 
ably  for  a  sign  of  his  Messiahship,  he  calls  them  an 
"  evil  and  adulterous  generation."  He  makes  himself 
the  head,  and  teaches  that  all  are  to  be  subordinate  to 
him.     "One  is  your  master,  even  Christ;"  "I  your 


BE  THYSELF. 


63 


lord  and  master."  If  a  city  would  not  receive  his  dis- 
ciples, nor  hear  their  words,  as  they  wandered  round 
rehearsing  the  gospel  of  the  Nazarene,  when  they  de- 
parted from  it  they  were  to  shake  off  the  dust  of  their 
feet  as  a  testimony  against  it,  and  he  informs  them 
that  it  would  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah in  the  Day  of  Judgment  than  for  that  city. 
He  seems  to  have  had  some  of  the  feeling  that  exists 
in  the  little  souls  of  our  sectarian  bigots.  Their  sect 
is  comprised  of  the  chosen  few,  to  whom  it  is  the 
Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  the  kingdom.  They 
are  not  of  the  world,  and  they  will  have  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  the  destruction  of  their  enemies,  those  who 
would  not  believe,  bow  down  to,  and  support  their 
church.  The  notions  of  Jesus  with  regard  to  proper- 
ty, prayer,  and  non-resistance,  are  very  far  from  rea- 
sonable ;  and  though  he  said  and  did  many  excellent 
things,  taking  the  narratives  concerning  him  to  be 
true,  still  it  is  evident  that  he  is  no  model  for  the  race. 
And  of  this  the  church  generally  seems  to  be  aware, 
though  professing  continually  to  practice  his  precepts 
and  live  his  life.  Jesus  says, "  Lend,  hoping  for  nothing 
again ;  "  but  where  are  the  Christians  that  do  it?  Do 
outsiders  demand  six  per  cent,  ten  per  cent,  or  two 
per  cent  a  month,  if  they  find  any  one  whose  necessi- 
ties compel  him  to  pay  such  usurious  interest,  then 
(christians  do  the  same ;  and  no  difference,  in  this  re- 
ftpect,  is  obserrablo  between  them.  Jesus  said,  "  Re- 
sist not  evil,  and  if  any  man  smite  thee  on  the  one 
cheek,  turn  the  other  also ;  "  "  Love  your  enemies." 
Christians  generally  pay  no  more  attention  to  these 
commands  than  if  they  had  never  been  uttered ;  in 
fact,  every  sect  has  made  an  artificial  Jesus  of  its  own, 


i  1 


64 


BE  THYSELF. 


BE  THYSELF. 


G5 


n 


r. 


II       ! 


generally  less  fanatical  and  extravagant,  and  more 
fashionable  and  better  suited  to  the  times.  We  have 
a  Quaker  Jesus,  who  wears  a  broad-brim,  and  says 
"  thee,''  who  never  enters  a  "  steeple  house,"  and  looks 
upon  music  and  dancing  with  horror.  The  Methodist 
Jesus  believes  in  class-meetings  where  every  one  tells 
his  experience ;  in  prayer-meetings  where  men  and 
women  shout  and  scream  as  if  God  was  afar  off  or 
asleep,  and  has  great  faith  in  John  Wesley's  sermons 
and  the  Methodist  discipline.  The  Episcopal  Jesus, 
unlike  the  real  one,  thinks  much  of  forms  and  cere- 
monies, loves  the  tones  of  a  solemn  organ,  and  the  dim, 
religious  light  that  streams  througli  a  stained  glass 
window ;  believes  in  the  thirty-nine  articles,  and  thinks 
the  creed  of  Athanasius,  "which  in  damning  souls  is 
very  spacious,"  one  of  the  best  compositions  outside 
of  the  Bible.  The  Shaker  Jesus  believes  in  "  Mother 
Ann,"  regards  marriage  as  a  mortal  sin,  thinks  all  the 
world  Sodom,  and  Shaker  communities  so  many  Zoars 
to  which  the  righteous  Lots  have  fled  from  the  impend- 
ing destruction. 

This  conduct  is  probably  better  than  it  would  be  to 
follow  literally  the  example  of  Jesus,  for  this,  we  have 
seen,  would  be  most  disastrous.  The  obligation  of  my 
text  is  strengthened,  then,  by  our  review  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  and  the  conduct  of  his  so-called  Church.  Man, 
woman,  be  thyself,  and  thou  shalt  be  as  great  as  Jesus, 
too,  or  greater  than  he. 

In  obedience  to  this  principle,  Luther,  singlehanded, 
coped  with  the  banded  hosts  of  Popery,  shook  the 
triple-crowned  Pope  himself,  though  sitting  on  the 
throne  of  ages,  made  the  Roman  hierarchy  tremble  at 
the  sound  ol  his  name,  and  delivered  from  priestly 


tyranny  a  host  of  noble  souls.  Had  he  been  content 
to  shroud  his  manhood  in  the  monk's  cowl,  and  keep 
down  the  rising  aspirations  of  his  soul,  we  might  still 
have  been  moping  about  in  the  dark  night  of  priest- 
craft, by  the  pale  light  of  the  stars,  nor  dreaming  of  a 
dawning  day,  and  he,  a  poor  Popish  slave,  had  crept 
long  since  to  the  silent  grave. 

Had  he  been  more  faithful  to  his  soul,  walked  accord- 
ing to  its  dictates  without  looking  to  the  right  or  the 
left,  we  might  have  been  much  farther  advanced  to-day. 
What  a  multitude  of  Lutlierans  are  wearing  his  cast- 
off  clothes,  ragged  and  thread-bare,  fitting  no  one,  in 
place  of  their  own  natural  and  beautiful  apparel! 

George  Fox  was  a  poor  shoemaker  in  Drayton,  Lin- 
colnshire. Feeling  the  fire  of  truth  burning  in  his 
bosom,  he  went  out  to  warm  the  cold,  dead  world  with 
its  divine  influence;  casting  down  his  boots  and  lasts, 
he  went  forth  to  preach  the  Gospel.  What  Gospel  ? 
The  Gospel  of  George  Fox,  and  no  other.  And  this 
poor  shoemaker,  with  no  more  than  an  ordinary  amount 
of  brain  and  intelligence,  shook  every  steeple  in  the 
land.  Bold,  fearing  nothing  when  his  soul  led  the 
way,  pre-eminently  self-reliant,  and  ever  turning  to 
"  the  light  within,"  we  find  him  entering  the  old  vaults 
of  gloomy  superstition,  club  in  hand,  breaking  the  sec- 
tarian images,  opening  the  prison  doors,  flashing  light 
into  the  dark  corners,  and  enforcing  by  precept  and 
example  the  sentiment  of  my  text.  When  the  priesis 
heard  that  the  "  man  with  the  leather  breeches  "  was 
coming,  they  left  their  pulpits  and  fled  ;  and  George 
mounted  the  deserted  pulpits  and  distributed  to  the 
famished  multitude  the  bread  of  life.  At  one  time  we 
find  him  wading  through  the  bogs  of  Ireland,  at  another 

6 


6G 


BE  THYSELF. 


BE  THYSELF. 


67 


u 


I 


roaming  iu  the  wilds  of  America.  The  phlegmatic 
Hollander  is  stirred  by  the  indefatigable  Drayton  shoe- 
maker, nor  could  the  cold  prisons  of  England  quench 
the  fire  of  his  zeal.  Had  all  the  Quakers  been  as 
much  themselves  as  George,  the  promised  millennium 
had  dawned  long  ere  this.  This,  alas!  they  never 
dreamed  of  being.  George  was  good,  great,  and  use- 
ful; and  they,  to  be  so,  must  bo  like  him;  the  nearer 
the  resemblance  the  better.  He  wore  a  broad-brim, 
had  no  collar  on  his  coat,  said  "thou  "  and  "thee;" 
and  every  genuine  Quaker  does  the  same  to  this  day ; 
and  should  he  depart  from  the  faith,  he  is  soon  told 
"  Thee  is  not  following  Friends*  rule."  When  George 
went  into  a  church,  he  kept  on  his  hat,  to  show  that 
he  had  no  faith  in  "  holy  houses ; "  the  Quakers,  imi- 
tating their  model  man,  wear  hats  in  their  own  meet- 
ing-houses, which  no  one  regards  as  holy,  and  that  to 
the  detriment  of  their  health.  Unfortunately  George 
could  not  sing,  and  had  a  small  organ  of  ideality,  so 
that  he  had  no  taste  for  pictures,  and  little  or  none  for 
the  fine  arts  generally.  Henceforth,  every  Quaker 
must  be  dumb;  music  is  a  sin,  and  paintings  and 
sculpture  awful  waste  of  time  and  labor.  Friends' 
meeting-houses  are  built  like  barns,  and  their  worship 
is  so  dead  and  monotonous  that  the  young  gladly  escape 
from  it  to  something  more  attractive.  The  spirit  may 
move  one  Friend  to  sing  as  much  as  it  does  another  to 
preach ;  but  all  singing  spirits  are  "  demons,"  and 
must  be  exorcised.  In  short,  every  Quaker  must  be 
a  Fox,  whereas  to  be  a  man,  he  must  needs  be  himself. 
John  Wesley  was  somewhat  manly ;  and  his  obedi- 
ence to  himself,  despite  of  ecclesiastical  laws,  made 
him  a  reformer;  but  when  he  said  to  the  members  of 


his  church,  "  It  is  your  business  to  obey  our  rules, 
and  not  to  mend  them,"  he  evidently  did  not  intend 
others  to  be  as  noble  as  he  had  been. 

If  thou  wouldst  bo  a  man,  bend  at  the  shrine  of  no 
mortal;  walk  in  no  pathway  because  others  tread  it ; 
be  thy  cwn  leader,  thy  own  sect;  when  all  are  so,  then 
will  come  the  true  church.  Who  was  Wesley,  that 
thou  shouldst  be  a  Wesleyan?  or  Luther,  that  thou 
shouldst  be  a  Lutheran?  or  Christ  that  thou  shouldst 
be  a  Christian?  all  men;  art  thou  not  equally  so? 
When  the  priest  threatens  thee  with  damnation,  and 
would  load  thee  with  his  gyves  to  secure  thy  soul's 
salvation,  say,  "Hands  ofi",  sir!  I  am,  also,  a  man! 
Hather  let  me  be  lost,  being  a  free  man,  than  be  saved 
to  bo  an  eternal  slave  1 " 

Sects  are  engines  that  crush  the  soul ;  priests 
direct  them !  Keep  out  of  their  power.  They  are 
sand-pits  where  ignorant  or  interested  men  pretend 
to  dig  treasures  ;  keep  from  their  brink  ;  once  enter, 
thou  mayest  lose  the  light  of  day.  They  are  man- 
traps set  on  "  holy  ground ; "  beware  of  them ;  let 
not  thy  feet  wander  on  their  domain. 

But,  says  an  objector,  some  men's  sense  of  right  is 
very  defective,  and  when  they  think  they  are  doing 
right  they  are  really  doing  wrong.  I  most  willingly 
grant  it;  but  what  then?  Shall  we  tell  the  man  that 
he  must  do  what  he  thinks  is  wrong?  or  shall  we  tell 
him  that  we  are  right  and  he  must  bow  to  our  author- 
ity?  This  would  make  the  man  a  slave,  and  that 
could  never  be  right.  If  a  man  should  be  so  blinded 
as  to  conscientiously  believe  right  to  be  wrong  and 
wrong  to  be  right,  I  should  still  say  to  him,  "Do 
what  you  believe  to  be  right,  but  the  consequence  of 


5 


/ 


68 


BE  THYSELF. 


your  ignorance  will  fall  upon  your  head."  Whether 
men  sin  ignorantly  or  willfully,  they  suffer,  and  this 
suffering  tends  to  make  them  wiser  continually, — 
tends  to  bring  their  sense  of  right  side  by  side  with 
Nature ^s  actual  right. 

But,  says  another,  must  man  discard  all  models, 
cast  aside  all  examples,  refuse  all  guides  ?  Destruc- 
tion would  assuredly  be  his  fate.  There  is  no  neces- 
sity  for  this ;  all  models,  all  examples,  all  guides  are 
useful  to  enable  us  to  form  our  own.  A  man*s  model 
must  be  in  his  own  soul,  all  others  with  which  he  is 
conversant  assisting  in  forming  it. 

Ever  there  floats  before  the  real 
The  bright,  the  beautiful  ideal. 
And  as,  to  guide  the  sculptor's  hand, 
The  living  forms  of  beauty  stand, 
Till  from  the  rough-hewn  marble  starts 
A  thing  of  grace  in  all  its  parts, 
So  ever  stand  before  the  soul 
A  model,  beautiful  and  whole : 
The  perfect  man  that  we  should  be, 
Erect  in  stern  integrity. 
Keep  this,  oh  soul,  before  thy  sight, 
And  form  the  inward  man  ariiiht. 


Be  true  to  this  model  to-day,  and  to-morrow  it  is 
fairer  and  more  beautiful  and  perfect,  always  advan- 
cing as  we  advance,  and  ever  before  and  above  us 
beckoning  us  on.  All  we  read,  hear,  and  learn  helps 
us  in  the  formation  of  this  true  self  that  must  be  our 
model ;  hence  we  must  disdain  no  advice,  even  from 
a  child.  We  all  have  much  to  learn.  Moses,  Jesus, 
and  Joseph  Smith  may  teach  us  something;  let  us 
thankfully   receive   all  they  can  give.    But  let  no 


BE  THYSELF, 


69 


man  take  us  off  our  feet ;  let  the  officious  help  of 
none  prevent  us  from  exercising  our  faculties  and 
unfolding  ourselves  in  accordance  with  our  own 
law. 

Religious  imitators,  like  all  others,  fall  short  of 
their  original,  and  copy  its  defects,  rather  than  its 
excellences.  The  Pharisees  imitated  the  sectarian 
pride,  the  narrow-souled  bigotry  of  Moses,  who  could 
see  no  virtue  outside  of  the  tents  of  Israel,  rather 
than  the  wisdom  that  dictated  sound  laws,  and  the 
meekness  that  is  said  to  have  characterized  their 
model  man.  Of  the  million  imitators  of  Jesus,  we 
have  many  that  can  denounce  with  his  vehemence, 
proclaim  damnation  to  all  unbelievers,  and  speak  of 
outsiders  as  *'  dogs  ; "  but  how  few  imitate  his  manli- 
ness, his  contempt  of  riches,  his  active  benevolence 
and  unswerving  adherence  to  right?  Of  the  thou- 
sands of  Quakers  who  imitate  the  little,  and  in  some 
cases  ridiculous,  peculiarities  of  George  Fox,  where 
will  you  find  the  man  as  bold  and  sell-reliant  as  he, 
daring  to  utter  his  thoughts  though  they  differ  from 
those  of  every  living  mortal? 

Absurd  imitation  of  the  past  has  characterized  the 
masses  in  all  ages.  The  worship  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  deities  continued  after  all  faith  in  them  was 
gone.  Altars  smoked  and  priests  officiated  in  the 
temples  long  after  the  gods  had  departed  ;  for  the  / 
dead  absurdities  of  the  Past  ruled  the  living  Present; 
and  even  the  philosophers  did  not  possess  sufficieut 
selfhood  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  defunct 
tyrants.  In  our  own  time,  the  foolish  dictates  of 
fashion  are  scrupulously  obeyed  by  millions  who 
know  no  higher  law;   and  multitudes  of  intelligent 


70 


BE  THYSELF. 


men  and  women  become  the   mere   playthings  with 
which  she  sports  at  her  pleasure. 

Instead  of  one  fashion-monger  dictating  to  the 
world,  how  much  better  would  it  be  if  all  developed 
their  natural  taste  and  love  of  tlio  beautiful,  and 
dressed  accordingly.  How  much  we  lose  from  the 
stupid  folly  of  those  who  allow  the  taste  of  one,  or  it 
may  be  the  lack  of  taste  in  one,  to  govern  and  mold 
the  whole. 

All  who  take  the  privilege  of  being  themselves 
should  be  equally  willing  to  give  the  same  privilege, 
and  not  seek  to  impose  their  conditions  upon  others. 
The  water  is  very  well  for  a  fish  to  live  in,  but  a  poor 
place  for  a  bird  ;  and  though  grass  makes  a  good  din- 
ner for  a  horse,  a  lion  would  soon  starve  on  it.  The 
road  I  travel  may  suit  me,  but  what  right  have  I, 
when  others  are  unwilling  to  go  the  same  way,  to 
knock  them  down  and  drag  tiicm  into  it?  Every 
planet  may  revolve  on  his  own  orbit,  so  it  comes  into 
collision  with  no  other ;  and  there  is  room  in  the  wide 
universe  even  for  the  eccentric  comet. 

Many  reformers  decry  and  despise  those  who  are 
operating  in  other  fields.  Their  pet  reform  is  the  one 
upon  which  the  world  hangs,  or  the  central  sun 
around  which  the  universe  revolves.  All  others  are 
fragmentary,  theirs  integral.  Men  advocate  one  re- 
form, read  about  it,  hear  every  one  talk  about  it 
where  they  lecture,  until  it  assumes  a  mountain  mag- 
nitude and  shuts  out  all  else  from  their  gaze.  The 
Temperance  Reformer  says  nothing  can  be  done  to 
elevate  and  bless  the  masses  till  they  are  made  sober, 
for  drunkenness  is  the  parent  of  crime  and  misery. 
Let  all  become  temperate  and  the  day  of  the  Lord  is 


BE  THYSELF. 


71 


at  hand ;  and  he  is  astonished  that  all  reformers  do 
not  lend  their  aid  to  the  great  work  until  it  is  accom- 
phshed.  The  Antislavery  Reformer  assures  us  that 
slavery  is  the  curse  of  curses;  the  canker-worm  that 
is  eating  out  the  nation's  heart;  the  sum  of  all  villa- 
Dies ;  a  fire  burning  to  the  lowest  hell.  Hence  the 
Antislavery  Reform  is  the  most  important;  all  others 
aie  comprehended  in  it,  and  he  who  does  not  advo- 
cate it  is  recreant  to  truth  and  duty. 

The  Land  Reformer  is  certain  that  his  reform  un- 
derlies all  others,  —  the  soil  must  be  the  foundation. 
Let  the  land  be  equally  divided,  or  every  man  have 
possession  of  what  he  can  cultivate,  and  poverty,  and 
the  vice  and  misery  consequent  upon  it,  will  flee,  and 
the  golden  age  return.  Slavery  could  not  exist,  in- 
temperance would  be  no  more,  and  the  voice  of  re- 
joicing would  be  heard  through  all  the  land. 

"This  reform  all  should  labor  for,"  says  he. 
"  Hold ! "  says  the  advocate  of  Woman's  Rights. 
"  Men  are  what  their  mothers  make  them,  and  they 
make  bad  laws  because  women  who  mold  them  are 
robbed  of  their  rights,  and  hold  a  degrading  position 
in  the  world.  Give  woman  her  true  position,  edu- 
cate her  for  her  high  destiny,  and  every  reform  will 
follow,  as  spring  the  flowers  when  summer  warms 
the  soil." 

All  these  are  useful,  all  necessary ;  but  no  one  or 
two  reforms  include  the  wliole.  Make  the  world 
sober  to-morrow,  licentiousness,  tyranny,  war,  and 
ignorance  would  still  abound;  destroy  slavery,  and 
an  army  of  evils  would  still  remain  for  the  reformer 
to  combat. 

"  Find  thy  work  and  do  it,"  my  brother,  my  sister. 


Jt; 


'2 


BE  THYSELF. 


BE  THYSELF. 


73 


I 

i 


The  business  of  one  is  to  enter  the  untrodden  wild, 
axe  in  hand,  and  with  sturdy  strokes  bring  to  the 
ground  the  giant  trees ;  of  another,  to  grub  up  tlio 
bushes  and  pile  the  brush  for  burning;  the  work  of  a 
third,  to  turn  up  the  virgin  soil  to  the  sun's  bright 
eye,  while  others  follow  to  scatter  broadcast  the  good 
seed,  attend  the  growing  crops,  and  gather  in  the  glo- 
rious harvest.  All  are  necessary  ;  none  can  say,  "  I 
have  no  need  of  thee;"  for  the  final  result  can  only 
be  obtained  by  the  diversified  labor  of  all. 

Ilced  not  the  teachers  who  tell  thee  to  deny  and 
crucily  thyself.  Thou  art  thy  own  law,  thy  own 
Bible,  thy  own  model.  There  are  no  Scriptures  so 
sacred  as  those  written  in  thy  soul ;  read  them  care- 
fully, and  obey  them  faithfully,  ever  seeking  fur  new 
light  to  scan  aright  their  pages,  from  the  world 
around  thee,  transcribed  in  books,  or  engraven  upon 
the  ever-living  page  of  Nature  herself  So  shalt  thou 
develop  into  a  noble,  sound^  whole-souled  being, 
happy  in  thyself,  and  diffusing  happiness,  as  the  rose 
its  fragrance,  to  *all  around. 

Be  thyself;  a  nobler  gospel 

Never  preached  the  Nazarene ; 
Be  thyself;  *tis  holy  Scripture, 

Though  no  Bible  lids  between. 

Dare  to  shape  the  thought  in  language 

That  is  lying  in  thy  brain ; 
Dare  to  launch  it,  banners  flying, 

On  the  bosom  of  the  main. 

What  though  pirate  knaves  surround  thee ; 

Nail  thy  colors  to  the  mast ; 
Flinch  not,  flee  not ;  boldly  sailing, 

Thou  shalt  gain  the  port  at  last. 


Be  no  parrot,  idly  prating 

Thoughts  the  spirit  never  knew ; 

Be  a  prophet  of  the  God-sent, 
Telling  all  thy  message  true. 

True,  the  coward  world  will  scorn  thee, 
Friends  may  fail,  and  fiends  will  frown ; 

Heaven  itself  grow  dark  above  thee, 
Grods  in  anger  thence  look  down. 

Heed  not ;  there's  a  world  more  potent 

Can-ied  in  thy  manly  heart; 
Be  thyself,  and  do  thy  duty ; 

It  will  always  take  thy  part 

If  the  God  within  say,  "  Well  done  I " 
What  are  other  gods  to  thee  ? 

Hell's  hifl  frown ;  but  where  hb  smile  ifl, 
Hiere  ia  heaven  for  the  free. 


THE   DELUGE. 


I 


I 


THE    DELUGE    IN    THE    LIGHT 
OP  MODERN   SCIENCE. 


If  the  Bible  is  GoiPs  book,  we  ouglit  to  know  it. 
If  the  Creator  of  the  universe  has  spoken  to  man, 
how  important  that  we  should  listen  to  his  voice  and 
obey  his  instructions  I  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
Bible  is  not  God's  book,  we  ought  to  know  it.  Why 
should  we  go  through  the  world  with  a  lie  in  our 
right  hand,  dupes  of  the  ignorant  men  who  preceded 
us?  It  can  never  bo  for  our  soul's  benefit  to  cherish 
a  falsehood. 

Science  is,  perhaps,  the  best  test  that  we  can  apply 
to  decide  the  question.  Science  is  really  a  knowl- 
edge of  what  Nature  has  done  and  is  doing;  and 
since  the  upholders  of  the  divinity  of  the  Bible  be- 
lieve that  it  proceeded  from  the  Author  of  nature,  if 
their  faith  is  true,  it  cannot  possibly  disagree  with 
what  science  teaches. 

Science  is  a  fiery  furnace,  that  has  consumed  a 
thousand  delusions,  and  must  consume  all  that  remain. 
We  cast  into  it  astrology  and  alchemy,  and  their  ashea 
barely  remain  to  tell  of  their  existence.  Old  notions 
of  the  earth  and  heavens  went  in,  and  vanished  as 

77 


78 


THE  DELUGE   IN  THE  LIGHT 


OF  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


79 


their   dupes  gazed  upon  them.     Old   religions,  old 
gods,  have  become  as  the  incense  that  was  burned 

before  their  altars. 

I  purpose  to  try  the  Bible  in  its  searching  fire. 
Fear  not,  my  brother :  it  can  but  burn  the  straw  and 
stubble  ;  if  gold,  it  will  shine  as  bright  after  the  Geiy 
ordeal  as  before,  and  reflect  as  perfectly  the  image  of 

truth.  . 

The  Bible  abounds  with  marvellous  stones,  —  stories 
that  we  should  at  once  reject  from  their  intrinsic  im- 
probability, not  to  say  impossibility,  if  we  should  find 
them  in  any  other  book.  But,  among  all  the  stories, 
there  is  none  that  equals  the  account  of  the  deluge, 
as  given  in  tbe  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  chapters  of 
Genesis.  It  towers  above  the  rest  as  Mount  Wash- 
ington  does  above  the  New-England  hills;  and,  as 
travellers  delight  to  climb  the  loftiest  peaks,  I  sup- 
pose  that  many  would  be  pleased  to  examine  this 
lofty  story,  and  see  how  the  world  of  truth  and 
actuality  looks  from  its  summit. 

According  to  the  account,  in  less  than  two  thou- 
sand  years  after  God  had  created  all  things,  and  pro- 
nounced them  very  good,  he  became  thoroughly 
dissatisfied  with  every  living  thing,  and  determined 
to  destroy  them  with  the  earth.  He  thus  expresses 
himself:  "  I  will  destroy  man,  whom  I  have  created, 
from  the  face  of  the  earth,  —  both  man  and  beast,  and 
the  creeping  thing,  and  the  fowls  of  the  air;  for  it 
repenteth  me  that  I  have  made  them."  Again  he 
says  to  Noah,  "  The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before 
me ;  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through 
them,  and  behold  I  will  destroy  them  with  the 
earth." 


Why  should  the  beasts,  birds,  and  creeping  things 
be  destroyed  ?  What  had  the  larks,  the  doves,  and 
the  bob-o-links  done?  What  had  the  squirrels  and 
the  tortoises  been  guilty  of,  that  they  should  be 
destroyed  ? 

He  proceeds  to  inform  Noah  how  he  will  do  this : 
"And  behold  I,  even  I,  do  bring  a  flood  of  waters 
upon  the  earth,  to  destroy  all  flesh,  wherein  is  the 
breath  of  life,  from  under  heaven  ;  and  every  thing 
that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die."  And  we  are  subse- 
quently informed  that  "  every  thing  that  was  in  the 
dry  land  died."  But  why  not  every  thing  iu  the  sea? 
Were  the  dogs  sinners,  and  the  dog-fish  saints  ?  Had 
the  sheep  been  more  guilty  than  the  sharks?  had  the 
pigeons  become  utterly  corrupt,  and  the  pikes  re- 
mained perfectly  innocent?  It  may  be,  that  the 
apparent  impossibility  of  drowning  them  by  a  flood 
suggested  to  the  writer  of  the  story  the  necessity  of 
saving  them  alive. 

But  Noah  was  righteous ;  and  God  determined  to 
save  him  and  his  family,  eight  persons,  and  by  their 
instrumentality  to  save  alive  animals  sufficient  to 
stock  the  world  again  after  its  destruction. 

To  do  this,  Noah  was  commanded  to  build  an  ark, 
<hree  hundred  cubits  long,  fifty  broad,  and  thirty 
high.  It  was  to  be  made  with  three  stories,  and  fur- 
nished with  one  door,  and  one  window  a  cubit  wide. 
Into  this  ark  were  to  be  taken  two  of  every  sort  of 
living  thing,  and  of  clean  beasts  and  of  birds  seven  of 
every  sort,  male  and  female,  and  food  sufficient  for 
them  all. 

There  are  differences  of  opinion  about  the  length 
of  the  cubit :  most  probably  it  was  about  eighteen 


80 


THE   DELUGE  IN   THE   LIGHT 


I 


OP   MODERN  SCIENCE. 


81 


inches ;  but  taking  it  at  twenty-two  inches,  the  largest 
estimate  that  I  believe  theologians  have  made,  the 
ark  was  then  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  ninety, 
one  feet  eight  inches  broad,  and  fifty-five  feet  high. 
Leaving  apace  for  the  floors,  which  would  need  to  bo 
very  strong,  each  story  was   about   seventeen  feet 
high ;  and  the  total  cubical  contents  of  the  ark  were 
about  one  hundred  and  two  thousand  cubic  yards. 
Scott,  in  his  commentary,  makes  it  as  small  as  sixty- 
nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty  yards ;  but  the 
necessity  for  room  was  not  as  well  understood  in  hia 
day.     Each  floor  of  the  ark  contained  five  thousand 
six  hundred  and  one  square  yards,  and   the   three 
floors   sixteen   thousand   eight   hundred    and    three 
square  yards,  the  total  standing-room  of  the  ark. 

Into  this  were  to  be  taken  fourteen  of  each  kind  of 
fowl  of  the  air  or  bird.     How  many  kinds  or  species 
of  birds  are  there  ?    When  Adam  Clarke  wrote  his 
commentary,  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-two species  had  been  recognized.     Ornithology 
was  then  but  in  its  infancy,  and  man^s  knowledge  of 
living  forms  was  very  limited.     Lesson,  according  to 
Hugh  Miller,  enumerates  the  birds  at  six  thousand 
two   hundred   and   sixty-six   species;    Gray,   in  his 
"  Genera  of  Birds,"  estimates  the  number  on  the  globe 
at  eight  thousand.     Let  us  not  crowd  Noah,  but  take 
the  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  species  ol 
Lesson.  Fourteen  of  each  of  these  would  give  us  eighty- 
seven  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-four  birds, 
—  from  the  humming-bird,  the  little  flying  jewel,  to  the 
ostrich  that  fans  the  heated  air  of  the  desert,  — or 
over  five   for   every  yard   of   standing-room   in    the 
ark.     If  spaces  were  left  for  the   attendants  to  pas^s 


among  them,  to  attend  to  the  supply  of  their  daily 
wants,  the  birds  alone  would  crowd  the  ark. 

But,  beside  the  birds,  there  were  to  be  taken  into 
the  ark  two  of  every  sort  of  unclean  beast  and  fourteen 
of  every  sort  of  clean  beast.  The  most  recent  zoo- 
logical authorities  enumerate  two  thousand  and  sixty- 
seven  species  of  mammals,  or,  as  they  are  commonly 
called,  beasts.  Of  cetacea,  or  whale-like  mammals, 
sixty-five ;  ruminatia,  or  cud-chewers,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  ;  pachydermata,  or  thick-skinned  mam- 
mals, such  as  the  horse,  hog,  and  elephant,  forty-one; 
edentata,  like  the  sloth  and  ant-eater,  thirty-five; 
rodentia,  or  gnawers,  such  as  the  rat,  squirrel,  and 
beaver,  six  hundred  and  seventeen;  carnivora,  or 
flesh-eaters,  four  hundred  and  forty-six  ;  cheiroptera, 
or  bats,  three  hundred  and  twenty-eight;  quadru- 
mana,  or  monkeys,  two  hundred  and  twenty-one ;  and 
marsupialia,  or  pouched  mammals,  like  the  opossum 
and  kangaroo,  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven.  If  we 
leave  out  the  cetacea,  that  live  in  the  water,  and  the 
cud-chewers,  which  are  the  clean  beasts,  we  have  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five  species ;  and 
male  and  female  of  these,  a  total  of  three  thousand 
six  hundred  and  fifty. 

But,  besides  these,  there  were  to  be  taken  into  the 
ark  fourteen  of  every  kind  of  clean  beast.  And  what 
are  clean  beasts  ?  The  scriptural  answer  is,  animals 
that  divide  the  hoof  and  chew  the  cud ;  and  of  these  at 
least  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  species  are  known. 
Fourteen  of  each  of  these  added,  make  a  total  of  six 
thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  mammals, 
from  the  mouse  to  the  elephant.  These  beasts  could  not 
be  piled  one  upon  another  like  cord-wood ;  they  could 

6 


82 


THE  DELUGE  IN  THE  LIGHT 


OP  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


83 


fii 


not  be  promiscuously  crowded  together.  The  sheep 
would  need  careful  protection  from  the  lions,  tigers, 
and  wolves ;  the  elephant  and  other  ponderous  beasts 
would  require  stalls  of  great  thickness;  much  room 
would  be  required  to  enable  them  to  obtain  needful 
exercise,  and  for  the  attendants  to  supply  them  with 
food  and  water ;  and  a  vessel  of  the  size  of  the  ark 
would  be  taxed  to  provide  for  these  beasts  alone ; 
and  to  crowd  in,  and  preserve  alive,  beasts  and  birds, 
was  an  absolute  impossibility. 

But  there  are  of  reptiles  six  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
species;  and  Noah  was  to  take  into  the  ark  two  of 
every  sort  of  creeping  thing.  Two  hundred  of  these 
reptiles  are,  however,  aquatic :  hence  water  would  not 
seriously  affect  them ;  but  crocodiles,  lizards,  iguanas, 
tree-frogs,  horned  frogs,  thunder-snakes,  chicken- 
snakes,  brittlesnakes,  rattlesnakes,  copperheads,  asps, 
cobra  de  capellos,  whose  bite  is  certain  death,  and 
a  host  of  others,  must  be  provided  for.  It  would 
not  do  to  allow  these  disagreeable  individuals  to 
crawl  about  the  ark ;  and  nine  hundred  and  fourteen 
of  them  would  require  considerable  space,  whether 
they  could  obtain  it  or  not. 

By  this  time,  the  ark  is  doubly  crowded  ;  but  its 
living  cargo  is  not  yet  completed.     A  dense  cloud  of 
insects,  and  a  vast  army  destitute  of  wings,  make  their 
appearance,  and  clamor  for  admission.     The  number 
of  articulates  that  must  have  been  provided  for  is 
estimated  at  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  spe- 
cies,—from  the  butterflies  of  Brazil,  fourteen  inches 
from  the  tip  of  one  wing  to  the  tip  of  the  other,  to 
the  almost  invisible  gnat,  that  dances  in  the  summer^s 
beam.     Ants,  beetles,  flies,  bugs,  fleas,   mosquitoes, 


wasps,  bees,  moths,  butterflies,  spiders,  scorpions, 
grasshoppers,  locusts,  myriapods,  canker-worms,  wrig- 
gling, crawling,  creeping,  flying,  male  and  female, 
here  they  come,  and  all  must  be  provided  for. 

Nor  are  these  the  last.  The  air-breathing  land- 
snails,  of  which  we  know  four  thousand  six  hundred 
species,  could  never  have  survived  a  twelve  months' 
soaking ;  and  they  must  therefore  be  cared  for.  The 
nine  thousand  two  hundred  of  these  add  no  little  to 
the  discomfort  of  the  trebly-crowded  ark. 

Now  let  the  flood  come :  all  are  lodged  in  the  ark 
of  safety,  and  are  ready  for  a  yearns  voyage.  But  we 
forget :  the  ark  has  not  yet  received  one-half  of  its 
cargo.  The  command  given  unto  Noah  was,  "  Take 
thou  unto  thee  of  all  food  that  is  eaten,  and  thou 
8halt  gather  it  to  thee ;  and  it  shall  be  for  food  for 
thee  and  for  them  ; "  and  we  are  expressly  told  that 
"according  to  all  that  God  commanded  Noah,  so 
did  he." 

Food  for  how  long  ?  The  flood  began  in  the  "  sixth 
hundreth  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second  month, 
the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month.'*  Noah,  his  family, 
and  the  animals,  went  in  seven  days  before  this  time, 
and  left  the  ark  the  six  hundred  and  first  year  of 
Noah's  life,  the  second  month,  and  the  twenty-sev- 
enth day  of  the  month.  They  were  therefore  in  the 
ark  for  one  year  and  seventeen  days. 

What  a  quantity  of  hay  would  be  required,  the 
material  most  easily  obtained  I  An  elephant  eats  four 
hundred  pounds  of  hay  in  twenty-four  hours.  Since 
there  are  two  species  of  elephants,  the  African  and 
the  Indian,  there  must  have  been  four  elephants  in 
the  ark ;  and,  supposing  them  to  live  upon  hay,  they 


!!i 


84 


THE  DELUGE  IN  THE  LIGHT 


OP  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


85 


Ifi 


i 


would  require  three  hundred  tons.  There  are  at 
least  seven  species  of  the  rhinoceros;  and  fourteen 
of  these,  at  seventy-five  tons  each,  would  consume  no 
less  than  one  thousand  and  fifty  tons.  The  two  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  seventy-ei«:;ht  clean  beasts,  — 
oxen,  elk,  giraffes,  camels,  deer,  antelope,  sheep, 
goats,  with  the  horses,  zebras,  asses,  hippopotami, 
rodents,  and  marsupials  —  could  not  have  required  less 
than  four  thousand  five  hundred  tons  ;  making  a  total 
of  five  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty  tons.  A 
ton  of  hay  occupies  about  eighteen  cubic  yards ;  and 
the  quantity  of  hay  required  would  fill  a  hundred 
and  five  thousand  three  hundred  cubic  yards  of  space, 
or  more  than  the  entire  capacity  of  the  ark. 

If  these  animals  were  fed  on  other  substances  than 
hay,  the  extra  difficulty  of  obtaining  and  preserving 
those  substances  would  counterbalance  any  advan- 
tage  that  might  be  gained  by  the  economy  of  space. 

A  vast  quantity  of  grain  would  be  necessary  for 
'thousands  of  birds,  rodents,  marsupials,  and  other 
animals  ;  and  large  granaries  would  be  required  for  its 

storage. 

What  flesh  would  be  needed  for  the  lions,  tigers, 
leopards,  ounces,  wild-cats,  wolves,  bears,  hyenas, 
jackalls,  dogs,  and  foxes,  martens,  weasels,  eagles, 
condors,  vultures,  buzzards,  falcons,  hawks,  kites, 
owls,  as  well  as  crocodiles  and  serpents !  Not  one 
but  would  eat  its  weight  in  a  month,  and  some  much 
more.  A  full-grown  lion  eats  fifteen  pounds  of  flesh 
in  a  day  :  there  are  two  species  of  Hons ;  and  the  four 
would  eat  twenty-two  thousand  pounds  in  a  year. 
There   would  be,  at  least,  three  thousand  animals 


feeding  upon  flesh  ;  and,  if  we  calculate  that  they 
averaged  two  pounds  of  flesh  a  day,  this  would 
give  a  total  of  more  than  two  million  and  a  quarter 
pounds  of  flesh  to  be  stored  up  and  distributed. 
And  since  dried,  salted,  or  smoked  meat  would  not 
answer,  this  flesh  must  have  been  taken  into  the  ark 
alive.  It  would  be  equal  to  more  than  thirty  thou- 
sand sheep  at  seventy-five  pounds  each  ;  a  great  ad- 
dition to  the  original  cargo,  and  necessitating  an 
extra  quantity  of  hay  for  their  food,  till  their  turn 
came  to  be  eaten. 

Fish  would  be  required  for  the  otters,  minks,  peli- 
cans, of  which  there  are  eight  species,  and  must 
therefore  have  been  fifty-six  individuals  in  the  ark ; 
one  hundred  and  five  gulls,  for  there  are  fifteen 
species  ;  one  hundred  and  twelve  cormorants,  forty- 
nine  gannets,  one  hundred  and  forty  terns,  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-seven  kingfishers,  beside  storks, 
herons,  spoonbills,  penguins,  albatrosses,  and  a  host 
of  others;  molhisks  for  the  oyster-catcher,  tumstone, 
and  other  birds. 

The  fish  couhl  not  be  preserved  after  death  in  any 
way  to  answer  for  food,  and  must  therefore  have 
been  alive :  large  tanks  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
them  would  take  up  considerable  of  the  ark^s  space. 
The  water  in  such  tanks  would  soon  become  unfitted 
for  the  respiration  of  the  fish,  and  there  must  have 
been  some  provision,  by  air-pumps  or  otherwise,  for 
charging  the  water  with  the  air  essential  to  their 
existence. 

Many  animals  live  upon  insects;  and  this  must 
have  been  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  provision  to 
procure.    There  are  nineteen  species  of  goatsuckers ; 


86 


THE  DELUGE  IN  THE   LIGHT 


OF  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


87 


and  there  must  have  heeii  in  the  ark  two  hundred 
and   sixty-six   individuals.      These   birds   feed    upon 
flies,  moths,  beetles,  and  other  insects.     What  an  in- 
numerable multitude  must  have  been  provided  for  the 
goatsuckers   alone  I     But  there  are  a  hundred   and 
thirty-seven   species  of  fly-catchers;    and  Noah  must 
have  had  a  fly-catcher  family  of  nineteen  hundred  and 
eighteen  individuals  to  supply  with  appropriate  food. 
There   arc    thirty-seven    species  of   bee-eaters;    and 
there  must  have  been  five  hundred  and  eighteen  of 
these   birds   to   supply   with  bees.      A   very   large 
apiary  would  be  required  to  supply  their  needs.     But, 
beside   these,  insects   for  swallows,  swifts,  martins, 
shrikes,   thrushes,   orioles,    sparrows,   the    beautiful 
trogans  and  jacamars,  moles,  shrews,  hedgehogs,  and 
a  multitude  of  others,  too  numerous  to  mention,  but 
not  too  numerous  to  eat.  Ants,  also,  for  the  ant-eaters 
of  America,  the  aard-vark  of  Africa,  and  the  pango- 
lin of  Asia.     The  great  ant-eater  of  South  America 
is   an    animal    sometimes    measuring   eight   feet  in 
length.     It  lives  exclusively  on  ants,  which  it  pro- 
cures by  tearing   open  their   hills  with   its  hooked 
claws,  and  then  drawing  its  long  tongue,  which  is 
covered    with    glutinous    saliva,    over   the   swarms 
which   rush   out   to   defend   their   dwelling.      Many 
bushels  of  ants  would  be  needed  for  the  pair  of  ant- 
eaters  before  the  ark  landed  on  Ararat.     How  were 
all  the  insects  caught,  and  kept  for  the  use  of  all  these 
animals  for  more  than  a  year  ?   A  hundred  men  could 
not  catch  a  sufficient  number  in  six  months.     And,  if 
caught,  how  could  they  be  preserved,  together  with 
the  original  stock  of  insects  necessary  to  supply  the 
world  after  the  deluge  ?    Some  insects  eat  only  bark ; 


others,  resinous  secretions,  the  pith,  solid  wood, 
leaves,  sap  in  the  veins,  as  the  aphide,  flowers,  pol- 
len, and  honey.  Wood,  bark,  resin,  and  honey  might 
have  been  supplied ;  but  how  could  green  leaves,  sap^ 
flowers  and  pollen,  be  furnished  to  those  insects  abso- 
lutely requiring  them  for  existence  ?  Thirty  species 
of  insects  feed  on  the  nettle,  but  not  one  of  them 
could  live  on  dried  nettles.  Rosel  calculates  that 
two  hundred  species  subsist  on  the  oak ;  but  the  oak 
must  be  in  a  growing  condition  to  supply  them  with 
food.  In  no  other  way,  then,  could  the  insects  have 
been  preserved  alive  than  by  large  green-houses,  the 
heat  so  applied  as  to  suit  the  plants  of  both  temper- 
ate and  tropical  climates,  and  the  insects  so  dis- 
tributed among  them,  that  each  could  obtain  its 
appropriate  nourishment. 

Fruit  would  be  necessary  for  the  four  hundred  and 
forty-two  monkeys,  for  the  plantain-eaters,  the  fruit- 
pigeons  of  the  Spice  Islands  that  feed  on  nutmegs, 
for  the  toucans  and  the  flocks  of  parrots,  parroquets, 
cockatoos,  and  other  fruit-eating  birds.  As  they  did 
not  know  how  to  can  fruit  in  those,  days,  and  dried 
fruit  would  be  altogether  unsuitable,  there  must  have 
been  a  large  green-house  for  raising  all  manner  of 
fruit  necessary  for  the  frugivorous  multitude. 

How  were  the  various  animals  obtained  ?  The  com- 
mand given  to  Noah  was,  **  Two  of  every  sort  shalt 
thou  bring  into  the  ark." 

Animals,  as  is  now  well  known,  belong  to  limited 
centres,  outside  of  which  they  are  never  found  in  a 
natural  state ;  and  naturalists  know  that  these  cen- 
tres were  established  ages  before  the  time  when  the 
deluge  is  supposed  to  have  occurred. 


88 


THE  DELUGE  IN   THE   LIGHT 


Thus,  Hugh  Miller,  in  his  "  Testimony  of  the  Rocks," 
says,  "  We  now  know  that  every  great  continent  has 
its  own  peculiar  fauna;  that  the  original  centres  of 
distribution  must  have  been,  not  one,  but  many ; 
further,  that  the  areas  or  circles  around  these  centres 
must  have  been  occupied  by  their  pristine  animals  in 
ages  long  anterior  to  that  of  the  Noachian  Deluge  ; 
nay,  that  in  even  the  latter  geologic  ages  they  wr3ro 
preceded  in  them  by  animals  of  the  same  general 
type.  There  are  fourteen  such  areas,  or  provinces, 
enumerated  by  the  later  naturalists ;  "  and  Cuvier, 
quoted  by  Miller,  says, "The  great  continents  contain 
species  peculiar  to  each ;  insomuch,  that  whenever 
largo  countries,  of  this  description,  have  been  discov- 
ered, which  their  situation  had  kept  isolated  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  the  class  of  quadrupeds  which  they 
contained  has  been  found  extremely  different  from 
any  that  had  existed  elsewhere.  Thus,  when  the  Span- 
iards first  penetrated  into  South  America,  they  did 
not  find  a  single  species  of  quadruped  the  same  as 
any  of  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa." 

The  white  bear  is  never  found  except  in  the  arctic 
regions ;  the  great  grizzly  bear  is  only  found  in  tho 
neighborhood  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Nearly  all 
the  species  of  mammals  found  in  Australia  are  con- 
fined to  that  country,  as  the  wingless  birds  of  New 
Zealand  are  confined  to  that,  and  the  sloth,  iirmadillo, 
and  other  animals,  to  South  America. 

A  journey  to  the  polar  regions  would  be  necessary 
to  obtain  the  white  bear,  tho  musk-ox,  of  which  seven 
would  be  required,  since  it  is  a  clean  beast ;  seven 
reindeer,  likewise ;  tho  white  fox,  the  polar  hare,  the 
lemming,  and  seven  of  each  species  of  cormorant. 


OP  MODERN   SCIENCE. 


89 


gannet,  penguin,  petrel,  and  gull,  some  of  which  are 
as  large  as  eagles,  as  well  as  mergansers,  geese,  and 
ducks,  certain  species  of  which  are  only  found  in  the 
frigid  zone.  Noah  or  his  agents  must  have  discov- 
ered Greenland  and  North  America  thousands  of 
years  before  Columbus  was  born :  they  must  have 
preceded  Behring,  Parry,  Ross,  Kane,  and  Hayes  in 
exploring  the  Arctic  regions.  They  searched  the  ice- 
floes and  numerous  islands  of  the  Arctic  seas,  snow- 
shoed,  over  the  frozen  tundras  of  Siberia,  to  be  cer- 
tain that  no  living  thing  escaped  them ;  then,  after 
catching  and  caging  all  the  animals,  conveyed  them, 
with  all  manner  of  food  necessary  for  their  sustenance, 
together  with  ice  to  temper  the  heat  of  the  climate 
to  which  they  were  for  more  than  a  year  to  be  ex- 
posed, returned  to  the  nearest  port,  and,  after  a  toil- 
some journey  from  the  sea-coast  to  Armenia,  arrived 
at  their  destination.  How  many  of  these  animals 
would  survive  the  journey?  and,  of  those  that  did, 
how  many  would  survive  the  change  of  climate  and 
habits  ? 

Another  party  must  have  visited  temperate  Amer- 
ica; traversed  New  England  in  its  length  and  breadth, 
forded  wide  streams,  made  their  way  through  un- 
broken wildernesses,  traversed  the  Great  Lakes, 
roamed  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  secured  the 
black  bear,  cinnamon  bear,  wapiti  or  Canadian  stag, 
the  moose,  American  deer,  antelope,  mountain  sheep, 
buflalo,  opossum,  rattlesnake,  copperhead,  and  an 
innumerable  multitude  of  other  animals  —  insects 
birds,  reptiles,  and  mammals,  that  are  only  to  be  found 
in  the  temperate  regions  of  America. 

A  voyage  to  South  America  must  have  been  made 


90 


THE   DELUGE  IN  THE   LIGHT 


OP  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


91 


to  obtain  tapirs,  pumas,  peccaries,  sloths,  ant^aters, 
arraadilloes,  fourteen  each  of  the  llama,  alpaca,  and  vi- 
cuna, beside  monkeys,  birds,  and  insects  innumerable. 
A  vessel  nearly  as  large  as  <' The  Great  Eastern" 
must  have  been  employed,  or  a  number  of  smaller 
ones,  to  accommodate  the  collectors,  the  animals,  and 
food  for  a  voyage  across  the  Atlantic.  There  must 
have  been,  at  least,  a  thousand  men,  wandering 
through  the  woods  of  Brazil,  along  the  valley  of  the 
Amazon,  the  Orinoco,  and  the  La  Plata ;  paddling  up 
the  streams,  scaling  the  mountains,  roaming  over  the 
pampas,  climbing  the  tall  trees,  turning  over  every 
stone  and  log,  and  exploring  every  nook,  to  discover 
the  snails,  bugs,  insects,  worms,  reptiles,  and  other 
animals  indigenous  to  South  America,  from  the  Isth- 
mus to  Terra-del-fuego. 

There  must  have  been  obtained  four  elephants,  for 
there  are  two  species,  the  Asiatic  and  the  Indian; 
fourteen  rhinoceroses,  one  of  which  is  found  only  in 
South  Africa,  another  in  the  island  of  Java,  and  a 
third  in  Sumatra;  two  hippopotami, and  possibly  four, 
for  some  authorities  say  there  are  two  species.  Four- 
teen giratTes,  since  they  are  clean  beasts,  must  have 
been  caught  and  driven  from  Central  Africa  (many 
more,  indeed,  must  have  been  caught,  that  the  re- 
quired number  might  reach  the  ark  and  be  preserved) ; 
twenty-eight  camels,  two  hundred  and  eighty  oxen  (for 
there  are  twenty  species,  and  they  arc  clean)  ;  and  no 
less  than  thirteen  hundred  and  eighty-six  deer  and  an- 
telope, of  which  there  are  ninety-nine  species  recog- 
nized :  these  to  be  collected  in  various  parts  of  Europe, 
Asia,  Northern  and  Southern  Africa,  and  America. 

New  Zealand  must  have  been  visited  to  obtain  its 


wingless  birds ;  Mauritius  for  its  dodo,  then  living  ; 
Australia  for  its  marsupials  and  other  peculiar  ani- 
mals ;  and  every  large  island,  and  most  of  the  small 
ones,  to  obtain  those  forms  of  life  that  are  only  to  be 
found  in  each.  From  the  island  of  Celebes,  they  must 
have  taken  the  eighty  species  of  birds  that  are  confined 
to  it,  which  would  require  them  to  catch,  cage,  feed, 
and  convey  eleven  hundred  and  twenty  specimens: 
a  no  small  job  of  itself.  Ten  men  that  could  accom- 
plish that,  and  carry  them  safe  to  Armenia,  would  do 
all  that  men  could  do  in  ten  years.  From  the  Philip- 
pine Islands,  the  seventy-three  species  of  hawks,  par- 
rots, and  pigeons,  peculiar  to  them ;  which  would  re- 
quire, since  fourteen  of  every  kind  of  bird  were  to  be 
taken  into  the  ark,  no  less  than  one  thousand  and 
twenty-two  specimens.  From  New  Guinea,  and  the 
neighboring  islands,  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  of  the 
magnificent  birds  of  paradise,  since  there  are  eighteen 
species. 

A  faint  idea  of  the  difficulties  encountered  arid 
overcome  by  Noairs  agents  may  be  gathered  from 
what  Wallace,  in  his  recent  work  on  the  Malay  Archi- 
pelago, informs  us  respecting  these  birds  of  paradise. 
"  Five  voyages  to  different  parts  of  the  district  they 
inhabit,  each  occupying  in  its  preparation  and  execu- 
tion the  larger  part  of  a  year,  produced  me  only  five 
species  out  of  the  fourteen  known  to  exist  in  the  New- 
Guinea  district."  If  it  took  Wallace,  with  all  the  as- 
sistance that  he  had  from  various  officials,  dvQ  years  to 
obtain  five  species,  represented  by  dead  birds,  how  long 
did  it  take  Noah's  agents  to  obtain  eighteen  species 
represented  by  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  live  birds? 
Wallace  could  only  obtain  two  alive,  and  for  these  he 
had  to  pay  five  hundred  dollars. 


92 


THE  DELUGE  IN   THE  LIGHT 


If  the  antediluvian  sinners  were  any  thing  like  the 
modern  ones,  Noah  must  have  been  richer  than  the 
Rothschilds,  or  he  never  could  have  obtained  their 
services  ;  which  he  must  have  done,  or  it  could  never 
be  truthfully  said,  "  according  to  all  that  God  com- 
manded him,  so  did  he." 

The  collection  of  the  land-snails  alone  would  be  no 
small  tax.  Seventy-four  are  peculiar  to  Great 
Britain:  hence  there  must  have  been  a  hundred  and 
forty-eight  snails  collected  from  that  island.  Six 
hundred  species  are  found  in  Southern  Europe  alone, 
and  twelve  hundred  must  have  been  collected  from 
there;  eighty  in  Sicily,  ten  in  Corsica,  two  hundred 
and  sixty-four  in  the  Madeira  Islands,  a  hundred  and 
twenty  in  the  Canary  Islands,  twenty-six  in  St. 
Helena,  sixty-three  in  Southern  Africa,  eighty-eight 
m  Madagascar,  a  hundred  and  twelve  in  Ceylon,  a 
hundred  in  New  Zealand,  and  others  on  every  large 
and  some  of  the  small  islands  of  the  globe.  The 
world  must  have  been  circumnavigated  many  times 
before  the  vessel  of  Magellan  was  built,  and  every 
island  visited  and  ransacked  ages  before  the  time  of 
Captain  Cook.  But  it  seems  surprising,  since  these 
voyages  must  have  been  performed  by  the  sinful  an- 
tediluvians, that  they  did  not  save  themselves  in  their 
ships  when  the  flood  came;  for  vessels  that  could 
perform  such  voyages  would  certainly  have  survived 
the  flood  more  readily  than  the  clumsy  ark. 

But  was  it  really  done?  A  thousand  men  in  ten 
years,  with  all  the  appliances  of  modern  art,  —  steam- 
boats, railroads,  canals,  coaches,  and  express  com- 
panies,—  could  not  accomplish  it  in  ten  years ;  nor  ton 
times  the  number  of  men  keep  all  the  animals  alive  in 


OP  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


93 


one   spot  for  one   year,  if  they  were  collected  to- 
gether. 

"  But,"  says  the  Christian,  "  Noah  never  did  col- 
lect them :  no  intelligent  person  in  this  day  ever  sup- 
poses that  he  did."  What  then  ?  "  The  Bible  ex- 
pressly  declares  that  '  they  went  in  unto  Noah  into 
the  ark.'  By  instinct,  such  as  leads  the  swallow  to 
take  its  distant  flight  at  the  approach  of  winter,  they 
came  from  all  parts  of  the  globe  to  the  ark  of 
safety." 

It  is  true  that  one  account  does  say  that  they  came 
in  unto  Noah,  for  there  are  two  very  difibrent  stories 
of  the  deluge  mixed  up  in  those  chapters  of  Genesis  ; 
but,  although  flying  birds  might  perform  such  a  feat 
as  going  twelve  thousand  miles  to  the  ark,  which 
would   be  necessary   for  some,  how  could  other  ani- 
mals get  there?     It  would  be  impossible  even  for 
some  birds.     How  could  the  ostriches  of  Africa,  the 
emus  of  Australia,  and  the  rheas  of  South  America, 
get  there,  —  birds  that  never  fly?     There  are  three 
species  of  the  rhea,  or  South-American  ostrich  ;  and 
forty-two  of  these  would    have  a  journey  of  eight 
thousand  miles  before  them,  by  the  shortest  route : 
but  how  could  they  cross  the   Atlantic  ?     If  they 
went  by  land,  they  must  have  traversed  the  length  of 
the  American  continent,  from  Patagonia  to  Alaska, 
crossed  at  Behring's  Strait  when  it  was  frozen,  and 
then  travelled  diagonally   across   nearly   the    whole 
continent  of  Asia  to  Armenia,  after  a  journey  that 
must  have  required  many  months  for  its  completion. 
The  sloths,  that  have  been  confined  to  South  Amer- 
ica  ever  since  the  pHocene  period  at  least,  must  have 
taken  the  same  route.    How  they  crossed  the  moun- 


M 


THE  DELUGE  IN  THE  LIGHT 


OF  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


95 


tain  streams,  and  lived  when  passing  over  broad 
prairies,  it  would  be  diflBcult  to  say.  A  mile  a  day 
would  be  a  rapid  rate  for  these  slow  travellers,  and  it 
would  therefore  require  about  forty  years  for  them 
to  arrive  at  their  destination.  But,  since  the  life  of  a 
sloth  is  not  as  long  as  this,  they  must  have  be- 
queathed their  journey  to  their  posterity,  and  they 
to  their  descendants,  born  on  the  way,  who  must 
have  reached  the  ark  before  the  door  was  closed. 
The  land-snails  must  have  met  with  still  greater 
diflSculties.  Impelled  by  most  wonderful  instinct, 
they  commenced  their  journey  full  a  thousand  years 
before  the  time  ;  and  their  posterity  of  the  five  hun- 
dredth generation  must  have  made  their  appearance, 
and  been  provided  with  a  passage  by  the  venerable 
Noah. 

Scott,  who  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  Bible  sev- 
enty or  eighty  years  ago,  must  have  seen  some  of 
these  difficulties,  though  with  nothing  like  the  clear- 
ness with  which  science  enables  us  to  see  them  now. 
He  says,  "  There  must  have  been  a  very  extraordi- 
nary miracle  wrought,  perhaps  by  the  ministration 
of  angels,  in  bringing  two  of  every  species  to  Noah, 
and  rendering  them  submissive  to  him  and  peaceable 
with  each  other ;  yet  it  seems  not  to  have  made  any 
impression  on  the  hardened  spectators." 

Think  of  a  troop  of  angels  fly-catching,  snail-seek- 
ing, and  bug-hunting  through  all  lands,  lugging 
through  the  air,  horses,  giraffes,  elephants,  and  rhi- 
noceroses, and  dropping  them  at  the  door  of  the  ark. 
\  One  has  crossed  the  Atlantic  with  rattlesnakes,-  cop- 
perheads, and  boas  twined  around  him,  almost  crip, 
fling  his  wings  with  their  snaky  folds ;  and  another 
\ 

I 


with  a  brace  of  skunks,  one  under  each  wing,  that 
the  renewed  world  may  not  lack  the  fragrance  of  the 
old.  What  a  subject  for  the  pencil  of  a  Raphael  or 
Dord  I  Had  the  ''  hardened  spectators  "  beheld  such  a 
scene  as  this,  Noah  and  his  cargo  would  have  been 
cast  out  of  the  ark,  and  the  sinners  themselves,  con- 
verted by  this  stupendous  miracle,  would  have  taken 
passage  therein. 

Not  only  must  there  have  been  a  succession  of  most 
stupendous  miracles  to  get  the  animals  to  the  ark,  but 
also  to  return  them  to  their  proper  places  of  abode. 
But  few  of  them  could  have  lived  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Ararat,  had  they  been  left  there.  How  could 
the  polar  bear  return  to  his  home  among  the  ice- 
bergs, the  sloths  to  the  congenial  forests  of  the  New 
World,  and  all  the  mammals,  reptiles,  insects,  and 
snails  to  their  respective  habitats,  the  homes  of  their 
ancestors  for  ages  innumerable  ?  To  return  them 
was  just  as  necessary  as  to  obtain  them,  and,  though 
less  difficult,  was  equally  impossible. 

Eow  could  eight  persons,  all  that  were  saved  in  the 
ark,  attend  to  all  these  animals!  Nearly  all  would 
require  food  and  water  once  a  day,  and  many  twice. 
In  a  menagerie,  one  man  takes  care  of  four  cages,  — 
feeds,  cleans,  and  waters  the  animals.  In  the  ark, 
each  person,  women  included,  must  have  attended 
each  day  to  ten  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  birds,  seven  hundred  and  sixty-six  beasts,  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  reptiles,  one  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  land-snails,  and  one  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  thousand  ^wq  hundred  insects. 

Few  persons  have  an  idea  of  the  difficulty  of  keep- 
mg  even  the  common  birds  of  a  temperate  climate 


96 


THE  DELUGE  IN  THE   LIGHT 


K 
« 
I 


OP  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


97 


alive  in  confinement  for  any  length  of  time.     Food 
that  is  quite  suitable  in  a  wild  state  may  be  fatal  to 
them  when  they  are  kept  in  the  house.     Linnets  feed 
on  winter  rape-seed  in  the  wild  state,  but  soon  die  if 
fed  upon  it  in-doors.     "  They  are  to  be  fed,"  says 
Bechstein, "  on  summer  rape-seed,  moistened  in  water ; 
and   their  food  must  be  varied   by  the  addition  of 
millet,  radish,  cabbage,    lettuce   and   plantain-seeds, 
and  sometimes  a  few  bruised  melon-seeds  or  barber- 
ries."    Nightingales,  he  says,  should  be  fed  on  meal, 
worms,  and  fresh  ants'  eggs :  but,  if  it  is  not  possible 
to  get  these,  a  mixture  of  hard  eggy  ox-heart  minced, 
and  white  bread  may  be  given ;  but  this  often  kills  the 
birds.     No  such  food  would  do  for  Noah's  nightin- 
gales, then,  or  where  would  have  been  the  nightin- 
gale's song?    They  must   have   been   fed   on   meal, 
worms,  and/res^  ant's  eggs.     How  they  were   ob- 
tained, we  have,  of  course,  no  knowledge.    Bechstein 
says  that  larks  may  be  fed  with  "  a  paste  made  of 
grated  carrot,  white  bread  soaked  in  water,  and  bar- 
ley or  wheat  meal,  all  worked  together  in  a  mortar. 
•  In  addition  to  this  paste,  larks  should  be  supplied 
with   poppy-seed,   bruised    hemp,    crumb   of  bread, 
and  plenty  of  greens,  such  as  lettuce,  endive,  cab- 
bage, with  a  little  lean  meat  or  ant-eggs  occasionally." 
lie  says  the  cage  should  be  furnished  with  a  piece  of 
fresh  turf,  often  renewed,  and  great  attention  should 
be  paid  to  cleanliness.     The  care  of  the  birds  in  the 
ark  probably  fell  to  the  women.     As  they  had  not 
read  Bechstein,  or  any  other  author  on  bird-keeping, 
—  and  thousands  of  the  birds  must  have  been  total 
strangers  to  them,  —  how  did  they  know  what  diet  to 
supply  them  with,  and  where  could  they  get  it,  sup- 
posing they  had  time  to  supply  them  at  all  V 


If  the  difficulty  was  great  to  keep  the  birds  of  a 
temperate  climate,  how  much  greater  mutU  it  have 
been  to  keep  tropical  birds  in  a  climate  altogether 
unsnited  to  them  ?  The  two  birds  of  paradise  bought 
by  Wallace  were  fed,  he  says,  on  rice,  bananas,  and 
cockroaches:  of  the  last,  he  obtained  several  cana 
from  a  bake-house  at  Malta,  and  thus  got  his  paradise 
birds,  by  good  fortune,  to  England.  But  how  many 
cans  of  cockroaches  would  be  necessary  for  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  of  such  birds,— the  number  in 
the  ark?  and  where  were  the  bake-houses  from 
which  the  supply  might  be  obtained? 

To  keep  this  vast  menagerie  clean  would  have  re- 
quired a  large  corps  of  efficient  workers,  especially 
when  wo  remember  that  there  was  but  one  door  in 
each  story,  as  some  suppose;  or  one  door  to  the 
whole  ark,  as  the  story  seems  to  teach,  and  this  door 
was  closed  ;  and  but  one  window,  and  that  apparently 
in  the  roof.  The  Augean  stable,  the  cleansing  of 
which  was  one  of  the  labors  of  Hercules,  can  but 
faintly  indicate  what  must  have  been  the  condition  of 
the  ark  in  less  than  a  month,  supposing  the  animals 
to  subsist  as  long. 

Wliencc  came  the  water  that  covered  the  earth  to  the 
tops  of  the  highest  mountains  ?  ^^All  the  high  hills 
that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were  covered. 
Fifteen  cubits  upward  did  the  waters  prevail;  and 
the  mountains  were  covered,"  says  the  record.  And 
to  do  this,  it  rained  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights. 
A  fall  of  an  inch  of  water  in  a  day  is  considered  a 
very  heavy  rain  in  Great  Britain.  The  heaviest  sin- 
gle  rain  recorded  fell  on  the  Khasia  Hills  in  India, 
and  anjounted  to  thirty  inches  in  twenty-four  hours. 


98 


THE  DELUGE  IN  THE   LIOHT 


If  this  deluging  rain  could  have  coutinued  for  fuity 
days  and  nights,  and  had  it  fallen  over  the  entire  sur- 
face  of  the  globe,  the  amount  would  only  have  been 
one  hundred  feet;  which,  instead  of  covering  the 
mountains,  would  not  have  covered  the  hills.  But, 
of  course,  such  a  rain  is  only  possible  for  a  very 
limited  time,  and  on  a  small  portion  of  the  earth's 

surface.  . 

Sir  John  Leslie,  in  "  The  Encyclopedia  Britanmca, 
says,  ^'  Supposing  the  vast  canopy  of  air,  by  some 
sudden  change  of  internal  constitution,  at  once  to 
discharge  its  whole  watery  store,  this  precipitate 
would  form  a  sheet  of  scarcely  five  inches  thick  over 
the  surfiice  of  the  globe.''  But  if  the  water  that  cov- 
ered  the  earth  above  the  tops  of  the  highest  moun- 
tains  came  by  rain,  it  must  l^ave  rained  seven 
hundred  feet  a  day  for  forty  days!  or  there  must 
have  fallen  each  day,  according  to  Sir  John  Leslie's 
estimate,  more  than  fourteen  hundred  times  as  much 
water  on  the  earth  as  the  atmosphere  contained  I 

But  the  writer  says,  ''  The  fountains  of  tlie  great 
deep  were  broken  up."  To  the  Jews,  who  supposed, 
with  David,  that  God  had  founded  the  earth  upon  the 
seas,  and  established  it  upon  the  floods,  this  meant 
something;  but,  in  the  light  of  geology,  we  see  that 
it  only  demonstrates  the  ignorance  of  the  man  who 
wrote  and  the  people  that  believed  the  story. 

Adam  Clarke,  commenting  on  this  passage,  says, 
»^  It  appears  that  an  immense  quantity  of  water  occu- 
pied  the  centre  of  the  antediluvian  earth;  and,  as  this 
burst  forth  by  the  order  of  God,  the  circumambient 
strata  must  sink  in  order  to  fill  up  the  vacuum  occa- 
Bioned  by  the  elevated  waters."  If  true,  it  would  not 


OF   MODERN   SCIENCE. 


90 


have  assisted  in  drowning  the  world  one  spoonful. 
For  if  the  strata  sank  anywhere  to  fill  the  hollow  pre- 
viously occupied  by  the  water,  it  would  only  make 
the  mountains  so  mucli  higher  in  comparison :  hence 
it  would  require  just  that  much  extra  water  to  cover 
them.  In  the  light  of  geology,  however,  the  notion 
is  sufiiciently  absurd.  A  mile  and  a  half  deep,  the 
earth's  interior  is  hot  enough  to  convert  water  into 
steam ;  there  is,  therefore,  no  chance  for  water  to 
exist  in  its  centre,  or  anywhere  near  it. 

It  IS  as  great  a  difficuUj  to  discover  xolvere  the  water 
went  when  the  food  was  over.  We  are  told  that  the 
fountains  of  the  deep  and  the  windows  of  heaven 
were  stopped,  and  the  rain  was  restrained.  But  this 
could  do  nothing  towards  diminishing  the  water.  All 
that  it  could  possibly  accomplish  would  be  to  prevent 
the  rise  of  the  water.  But  we  are  also  told  that ''  God 
made  a  wind  to  pass  over  the  earth."  All  that  the 
wind  could  do,  however,  would  be  to  convey  to  the 
atmosphere  the  moisture  it  took  up  in  vapor;  and 
this  could  not  have  lowered  the  water  a  yard.  The 
highest  mountain,  Kunchinginga,  is  more  than  twenty, 
eight  thousand  feet  high;  the  flood  prevailed  one 
hundred  and  fifty  days,  and  abated  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five ;  and  if  this  abatement  was  done  by  the 
wind,  it  must  have  blown  an  ocean  of  water  from  the 
entire  surface  of  the  earth,  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  deep,  every  day  for  eight  months  I  All  the  hur- 
ricanes that  ever  blew,  blowing  at  once,  would  be  the 
gentlest  zephyr  of  a  summer's  eve,  compared  with 
such  a  wind  as  that;  and  by  what  possibility  could 
such  a  craft  as  the  ark  survive  the  storm? 

A  question,  proper  to  be  asked  is,  How  were  tJie 


100 


THE    DELUGE  IN  THE   L.GHT 


OP  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


101 


animaU  supplied  with  light  ?  and  how  did  the  attendant, 
see  to  wait  upon  them  in  the  first  and  second  stones 
of  the  ark  ?     There   was  but  one  window,  and  that 
only  twenty-two  inches  in  size,  and  it  appears  to  have 
been  in  the  third  story.     It  was  a  day  when  kerosene 
was  unknown,  and  tallow  dips  were  uninvented.  How 
did  these  animals  live  in  the  darkness?  and,  above  all, 
how  did  Noah  and  his  family  supply  their  wants  ?     It 
could  have   been  no  easy  or  pleasant  thujg  to  wait 
upon  hungry  lions,  tigers,  crocodiles,  and  rattlesnakes 
in  the  dark,  to  say  nothing  of  the  danger. 

How  did  they  breathe?  There  was  but  one  twenty- 
two  inch  window  ;  the  ark  was  ^*  pitched  within  and 
without  with  pitch  ;  "  "  The  Lord  shut  him  in."  Talk 
of  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta:  it  must  have  been 
pure  as  the  breath  of  morning  compared  with  the 
condition  of  the  ark  in  one  day. 

Where  did  they  obtain  water  for  drink?  Supposuig 
till  the  additional  water  needed  to  drown  the  world 
was  fresh,  when  mingled  with  the  water  of  the  sea, 
as  much  as  one-tenth  of  it  would  be  salt  water,  and 
this  would  render  it  utterly  unfit  for  drink.     Provis- 
ion  must  therefore  have  been  made  for  water ;  and  a 
space  certainly  half  as  large  as  the  ark  must  have 
been  taken  up  for  the  water  necessary  for  this  im- 
mense multitude. 

Thejish,  molluskSy  crustaceans  (such  as  our  crabs  a7id 
lobsters)^  and  all  corals,  must  have  died  if  such  a  food 
had  taken  place, -^  the  iveshAyaier  fish  from  the  salt 
water  at  once  added  to  their  proper  element,  and 
the  salt-water  fish  and  other  marine  forms  from  so 
Urge  an  addition  of  fresh  water.  For  months,  there 
could  have  been  no  shore  :  what  is  now  the  margin 


of  the  sea  was  buried  miles  deep ;  and  all  the  fucoidal 
vegetation,  upon  which  myriads  of  animals  subsist, 
must  have  perished,  and  the  animals  with  it,  if  the 
change  in  the  constitution  of  the  water  had  not  killed 
them.  Every  time  a  man  swallows  an  oyster,  he  has 
evidence  that  the  Noachian  deluge  did  not  take 
place. 

The  plants  must  have  perished  also.  How  many  of 
our  trees,  to  say  nothing  of  the  grasses  and  feeble 
plants,  could  endure  a  soaking  of  nearly  twelve 
months^  duration  ?  Some  of  the  WQry  hardiest  seeds 
might  survive,  but  the  number  could  not  be  large. 
The  present  condition  of  vegetation  upon  the  globe 
is  another  evidence,  then^  that  this  deluge  did  not 
take  place. 

When  the  ark  landed  on  Mount  Ararat,  and  the 
animals  went  forth,  how  did  they  subsist  ?  As  they 
went  down  the  mountains,  the  carnivorous  animals 
would  have  devoured  a  large  portion  of  the  herbiv- 
orous animals  saved  in  the  ark.  Beside  the  lions, 
tigers,  leopards,  ounces,  and  other  carnivorous  mam- 
mals, amounting  to  eight  hundred  and  ninety-two,  there 
were  in  the  ark  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  eagles,  for 
there  are  forty-eight  species ;  one  hundred  and  forty- 
four  buzzards,  fourteen  hundred  and  forty-two  falcons, 
one  hundred  and  forty  hawks,  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  vultures,  and  eight  hundred  and  ninety  six  owls. 
What  chance  would  a  few  sheep,  rabbits  and  squir- 
rels, rats  and  mice,  doves  and  chickens,  have,  among 
this  ravenous  multitude  ?  How  could  the  ants  escape, 
with  ant-eaters,  aard-varks  and  pangolins  on  the 
watch  for  them  as  soon  as  they  made  their  appear- 
ance ?     There  were  as  'many  dogs  as  hares,  as  many 


102 


THE   DELUGE  IN   THE   LIGHT 


OP   MODERN  SCIENCE. 


103 


I   > 


cat8  as  mice.  How  long  a  lease  of  li^e  ^ould  he 
Bheep,  hares,  and  mice,  calculate  upon?  Before  the 
herbivorous  animals  had  multiplied,  so  as  to  furnish 
the  carnivorous  animals  with  food,  they  must  all  have 
been  destroyed, after  all  the  pains  taken  for  then'  pres- 
ervation.  Noah  should  have  given  the  hevbivora,  at 
least  a  year's  start,  especially  since  the  vegetation  ot 
the  dobe  was  so  deficient.  ^ 

But  we  are  told  that  the  species  of  animals  may 
have  been  much   fewer  in  the  days  of  Noah  ;  and 
therefore,  much  less  room  would  be  necessary.     A 
sinde  pair  of  cats,  say  some,  may  have  produced  all 
the  animals  of  the  cat  kind ;  a  pair  of  dogs,  all  the 
animals  that  belong  to  the  dog  family.     Such  an  ex- 
plauation  might  have  been  given  when  zoology  was 
little  known,  and  geology  had  no  existence ;  but  there 
is  no  place  for  it  now.     Animals  change,  it  is  true, 
and  all  species  have  probably  been  produced  from  a 
few  originals;  but  the  process  by  which  this  is  accom- 
plished  is  so  slow  in  its  operation,  that  we  have  no 
knowledge  of  the  formation  of  a  new  species.     We 
know  that  lions,  tigers,  and  cats  of  various  species, 
existed  long  before  the  time  of  the  deluge,  and  dogs, 
wolves  and  foxes  ;  and  we  find  mummied  cats,  dogs, 
and  other  animals  in  Egypt,  as  old  or  older  than  the 
deluge,  so  little  changed  from  those  of  the  present 
time  in  the  same  locality,  that  we  cannot  recognize 
any  difference  between  them. 

''  You  seem  to  forget  that  all  things  are  possible  with 

God  •  he  could  have  packed  these  animals  into  an  ark 

of  one-half  the  size,  brought  them  altogether  in  the 

twhMng  of  an  eye,  and  returned  them  03  rapidly. 

And  you  seem  to  forget  that  the  account  in  Gene^ 


Bis  gives  us  no  hint  of  any  such  miracle.  Noah  waa 
to  take  the  animals  to  him,  and  to  take  unto  him  of  all 
food  that  is  eaten;  and,  as  Hugh  Miller  remarks, 
'*  the  expedient  of  having  recourse  to  supposititious 
miracle  in  order  to  get  over  a  difficulty  insurmounta- 
ble on  every  natural  principle,  is  not  of  the  nature  of 
an  argument,  but  simply  an  evidence  of  the  want  of 
it.  Argument  is  at  an  end  when  supposititious  mira- 
cle is  introduced.''  But,  if  a  miracle  was  worked,  it 
was  not  one,  but  ten  thousand  of  the  most  stupen- 
dous miracles,  and  entirely  unnecessary  ones.  This, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Pyo  Smith  saw,  when  he  said,  "  We  can- 
not represent  to  ourselves  the  idea  of  all  land  ani- 
mals being  brought  into  one  small  spot,  from  the  polar 
regions,  the  torrid  zone,  and  all  the  other  climates  of 
Asia,  Africa,  Europe,  and  America,  Australia,  and  the 
thousands  of  islands,  —  their  preservation  and  pro- 
vision, and  the  final  disposal  of  them,  —  without 
bringing  up  the  idea  of  miracles  more  stupendous 
than  any  that  are  recorded  in  Scripture.  The 
great  decisive  miracle  of  Christianity,  —  the  resur- 
rection of  the  Lord  Jesus,  — ^inks  down  before  it." 

It  is  a  favorite  method  with  the  advocates  of  special 
revelations  to  show  their  agreement  with  the  opera- 
tions of  natural  law,  till  a  difficulty  is  met  with  that 
cannot  be  answered,  when  they  flee  at  once  to  mira- 
cle to  save  them.  But,  in  this  case,  miracle  itself 
cannot  save  them. 

Geology  furnishes  us  with  evidence  that  no  such 
deluge  has  taken  place.  According  to  Hugh  Miller, 
"  In  various  parts  of  the  world,  such  as  Auvergne  in 
Central  France,  and  along  the  flanks  of  Etna,  there  are 
cones  of  long-extinct  or  long-slumbering   volcanoes, 


104 


THE  DELUGE  IN   THE   LIGHT 


which,  though  of  at  least  triple  the  antiquity  of  the 
Noachian  deluge,  and  though  composed  of  the  ordi- 
nary incoherent  materials,  exhibit  no  marks  of  de- 
nudation.  According  to  the  calculations  of  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  no  devastating  flood  could  have  passed  over 
the  forest-zone  of  Etna  during  the  last  twelve  thou- 

sand  years." 

ArchsBology  enters  her  protest  equally  against  it. 
We  have  abundance  of  Egyptian  mummies,  statues, 
inscriptions,  paintings,  and  other  representations  of 
Egyptian  life  belonging  to  a  much  earlier  period  than 
the  deluge.     With   only  such  modifications  as  time 
slowly  introduced,  we  find  the  people,  their  language, 
and  their  habits,  continuing  after  that  time,  as  they 
had  done  for  centuries  before.     Lepsius,  writing  from 
the  pyramids  of  Memphis,  in  1843,  says,  "  We  are 
still   busy  with  structures,  sculptures,  and   inscrip- 
tions,  which  are  to  bo  classed,  by  means  of  the  now 
more  accurately  determined  groups  of  kings,  in  an 
epoch  of  highly  flourishing  civilization,  as  far  back  as 
the  fourth  millennium  before  Christ."  That  is  one  thou- 
sand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six  years  before  the  time 
of  the  flood.     Lyell  says  that  "  Chevalier  Bunsen,  in 
his  elaborate  and  philosophical  work  on  ancient  Egypt, 
has  satisfied  not  a  few  of  the  learned,  by  an  appeal  to 
monumental  inscriptions  still  extant,  that  the  succes- 
sive dynasties  of  kings  may  be  traced  ba^k  without 
a  break,  to  Menes,  and  that   the  date  of  his  reign 
would  correspond  with  the  year  3,640  B.  C. ;  "  that  is 
nearly  thirteen  hundred  years  before  the  time  of  the 
deluge.     Strange  that  the  whole  world  should  have 
been  drowned  and  the  Egyptians  never  knew  it  I 
From  the  "  Types  of  Mankind,"  we  learn  that  the  fad 


OP   MODERN  SCIENCE. 


105 


is  "  asserted  by  Lepsius,  and  familiar  to  all  Egyptolo- 
gists, that  negro  and  other  races  already  existed  in 
Northern  Africa,  on  the  Upper  Nile,  2,300  years 
B.C." 

But  this  is  only  forty-eight  years  after  the  deluge. 
What  kind  of  a  family  had  Noah  ?  Was  amalgama- 
tion practised  by  any  of  Noah^s  sons?  If  all  the 
human  occupants  of  the  ark  were  Caucasians,  how 
did  they  produce  negro  races  in  forty-eight  years  ? 
The  facts  again  compel  us  to  announce  the  fabulous 
character  of  this  Genesical  story  of  the  deluge. 

"  No  intelligent  person  now  believes  that  it  was  a 
total  deluge :  Bucldand,  Pye  Smithy  Miller ^  Hitchcock^ 
and  all  Christian  geologists^  agixe  that  it  was  a  partial 
deluge  J  and  the  account  can  be  so  explained. ^^ 

How  strange  that  God  should  dictate  an  account  of 
the  deluge  that  led  everybody  to  a  false  conclusion 
with  regard  to  it,  till  science  taught  them  a  better. 
But  let  us  read  what  the  account  says,  and  see 
whether  it  can  be  explained  to  signify  a  partial 
deluge.  To  save  the  Bible  from  its  inevitable  fate, 
such  men  as  Buckland,  Smith,  Miller,  Hitchcock,  and 
other  Bible  apologists,  it  is  evident  from  their  writ- 
ings, were  ready  to  resort  to  any  scheme,  however 
wild. 

I  read  (Gen.  vi.  7),  "  I  will  destroy  both  man  and 
beast,  and  the  creeping  thing."  How  could  a  partial 
deluge  accomplish  this  ?  (v.  13) ;  "  The  end  of  all  flesh 
is  come  before  me.  I  will  destroy  them  with  the 
earth."  How  could  all  flesh  be  destroyed  with  the 
earth  by  any  other  than  a  total  deluge?  (v.  17); 
"  I  do  bring  a  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth,  to  de- 
stroy all  flesh  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life,  from 


106 


THE   DELUGE   IN   THE   LIGHT 


OP  MODERN  SCIENCE. 


10^ 


»  i 


under  heaven ;  and  every  thing  that  is  in  the  earth 
shall  die."     Not  only  is  man  to  be  destroyed,  but  all 
flesh   wherein   is   the   breath    of   life,    from    under 
heaven,   and    every   thing   in   the   earth   is   to   die. 
Can  this  be  tortured  to  mean  a  partial  deluge  ?  (vii. 
19);   **And  the  waters  prevailed  exceedingly  upon 
the   earth;  and  all  the  high  hills  that  were  under 
the  whole  heaven  were  covered;  and  all  flesh  died 
that  moved  upon   the   earth,  both  of  fowl,  and  of 
cattle,  and  of  beast,  and  of  creeping  thing  that  creep- 
eth  upon  the  earth,  and  every  man.     All  in  whose 
nostrils  was  the  breath  of  life,  of  all  tha^.  was  in  the 
dry  land,  died.     And  every  living  Bubstance  was  de- 
stroyed which  was  upon  the  face  of  the  ground,  both 
man  and  cattle,  and  the  creeping  thiugs,  and  the  fowl 
of  the  heaven;  and  they  were   dt^^troyed  from  the 
earth,  and  Noah  only  remained  ahvvJ,  and  they  tiiat 
were  with  him  in  the  ark."     Had  the  man  wfio  wrote 
this  story  been  a  lawyer,  and  had  he  known  how 
these  would-be-Biblc-believers,  and  at  the  same  time 
geologists,  would  seek  to  pervert  his  meaning,  he 
could  not  have  more  carefully  worded  his  account. 
It  is  not  possible  for  any  man  to  express  the  idea  of  a 
total  flood  more  definitely  than  this  man  has  done. 
He  does  not  merely  say  the  hills  were  covered,  but 
^'alV  the  hills  were  covered;  and  lest  you  should 
think  that  he  certainly  did  not  mean  the  most  elevated, 
he  is  careful  to  say  "  all  the  high  "  hills  were  covered  ; 
and  lest  some  one  should  say  he  only  meant  the  hills 
in  that  part  of  the  country,  he  says  expressly  "  all  the 
high  hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were  cov- 
ered''    He  is  even  so  cautious  as  to  introduce  the 
phrase  "  whole  heaven/'  lest  some  one  in  its  absence 


might  still  think  that  the  deluge  was  a  partial  one. 
To  make  its  universality  still  more  evident,  he  says, 
"  All  flesh  died  that  moved  upon  the  earth."  This 
would  have  been  sufficiently  definite  for  most  persons, 
but  not  so  for  him ;  he  particularizes  so  that  none  may 
escape,  — "  both  of  fowl,  and  of  cattle,  and  of  beast, 
and  of  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth, 
and  every  man."  To  leave  no  possibility  of  mistake, 
he  adds,  "  all  in  whose  nostrils  was  the  breath  of  life, 
of  all  that  was  in  the  dry  land,  died."  Can  any  thing 
more  bo  needed  ?  The  writer  seems  to  see  that  some 
theological  professor  may  even  yet  try  to  make  this 
mean  a  partial  deluge  ;  and  he  therefore  says,  "  Every 
living  substance  was  destroyed  which  was  upon  the 
face  of  the  ground,  both  man,  and  cattle,  and  the 
creeping  things,  and  the  fowl  of  the  heaven ;  they 
were  destroyed  from  the  earth."  Is  it  possible  to 
add  to  the  strength  of  this  ?  He  thinks  it  is  ;  and  he 
therefore  says,  "  Noah  only  remained  alive,  and  they 
that  were  with  him  in  the  ark."  Could  any  truthful 
man  write  this  and  then  mean  that  less  than  a  hun- 
dredth part  of  the  earth^s  surface  was  covered.  If 
not  a  total  flood,  why  save  the  animals,  above  all  the 
birds  ?  All  that  Noah  and  his  family  need  to  have 
done  would  have  been  to  move  out  of  the  region  till 
the  storm  was  over.  If  a  partial  flood,  how  could  the 
ark  have  rested  on  the  mountains  of  Ararat?  Ararat 
itself  is  seventeen  thousand  feet  high,  and  it  rises 
from  a  plateau  that  is  seven  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea-level.  A  flood  that  enabled  the  ark  to  float  on  to 
that  mountain    could   not  have   been  far  from  uni- 


108 


THE   DELUGE   IN  THE   LIGHT 


OP   MODERN  SCIENCE. 


109 


^  m 


versal ;  and,  when  such  a  flood  is  accounted  for  on 
Bcientific  principles,  it  will  be  just  as  easy  to  account 

for  a  total  flood. 

"  TJie  food  tvas  only  iniended  to  destroy  man,  and 
therefore  only  covered  those  parts  of  the  earth  thai 
were  oecupied  by  him-     The  Bible  states,  however, 
that  it  was  intended  to  destroy  every  thing  wherein 
was  the  breath  of  life ;  and  your  account  and  the  Bible 
account  do  not  at  all  agree.    But,  if  man  was  intended 
to  be   destroyed,  the   flood   must  have  been  wide- 
spread.     We  know  that  Africa  was  occupied  before 
that  time,  and  had  been  for  thousands  of  years,  by 
various  races.     We  learn,  from  the  recent  discoveries 
in  the  Swiss  Lakes,  that  man  was  in  Switzerland  be- 
fore  that  time  ;  in  France,  as  Boucher's  and  RigoHet's 
discoveries  prove;  in  Great  Britain,  as  the  caves  in 
Devonshire   show;   in  North  Amerixja,  as  the   fossil 
human  skull  beneath  Table   Mountain  demonstrates. 
Hence,  for  the  flood  to  destroy  man  alone  at  so  recent 
a  period,  it  must  have  been  as  wide  spread  as  the 

earth.  ,         . 

Even  according  to  the  Bible  account,  the  garden  ot 
Eden  where  man  was  first  placed,  was  somewhere 
near  the  Euphrates ;  and  in  sixteen  hundred  years 
the  race  must  have  rambled  over  a  large  part  of  the 
earth^s  surface.     The  highest  mountains  in  the  world, 
the  Himalayas,  are  within  two  thousand  miles  of  the 
Euphrates.      That   splendid    country,   India,  would 
have  been   occupied  long  before   the   time   of   the 
deluge ;  and,  on  the  flanks  of  the  Himalayas,  man 
could  have  laughed  at  any  flood  that  natural  causes 
could  possibly  produce. 


'How  do  you  account^  then,  for  these  traditions  of 
a  deluge  that  we  find  all  over  the  globe  ?  " 

Nothing  more  easy.  In  all  times  floods  have  oc« 
curred;  some  by  heavy  and  long-continued  rains, 
others  by  the  bursting  of  lake-barriers  or  the  irrup- 
tion of  the  sea;  and  wherever  traditions  of  these 
have  been  met  with,  men  with  the  Bible  story  in  their 
minds  have  at  once  attributed  their  origin  to  the 
Noachian  deluge. 

''But  Jesus  and  tJie  apostles  indorse  the  account  of 

the  deluged 

Granted;  but  does  that  transform  a  fable  into  a 

fact?     They  believed  the   story  just  as  our  modern 

theologians  believe  it ;  because  they  were  taught  it 

when  they  were  children,  and  had  not  learned  better. 

Jesus  says  (Matt.  xxv.  37-39), ''  But  as  the  days  of  Noe 

were,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be. 

For,  as  in  the  days  that  were  before  the  flood  they 

were  eating  and  drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in 

marriage,  until  the  day  that  Noe  entered  into  the  ark, 

and  knew  not  until  the  flood  came  and  took  them  all 

away ;  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be." 

If  the  man  bad  regarded  the  story  as  false,  he  never 

would  have  referred  to  it  in  such  a  manner.     And,  in 

this  manifestation  of  credulity  on  the  part  of  Jesus, 

we  can  see  the  very  false  estimate  placed  upon  him 

by  so  large  a  portion  of  the  people  of  this  country. 

Let  the  truth  be  spoken,  though  Jesus  and  all  other 

idols  bo  overthrown.     So  he  would  say,  if  alive,  or 

he  was  not  as  good  and  intelligent  a  man  as  I  think 

he  was. 

By  this  story  the  Bible  stands  or  faUs  as  a  divine 


no 


THE  DELUGE  IN  THE  LIGHT 


book.  It  falls,  as  we  see,  and  takes  its  place  with 
all  other  human  fallible  productions.  For  knowledge, 
we  go  to  Nature,  our  universal  mother,  who  gives  her 
Bible  to  every  soul,  and  preaches  her  everlasting 
gospel  to  all  people. 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIEITUALISM  TRUE? 


It  is  useless  to  tell  us  that  a  doctrine  is  popular. 
Paganism  was  once  more  popular  than  Presbyterian- 
ism  ;  the  world  to-day  would  have  been  flat  as  a  table, 
if  the  belief  of  a  majority  could  have  made  it  so.  "  But 
our  doctrines  are  old :  they  have  stood  for  eighteen  hun- 
dred years."  If  such  an  argument  is  good,  for  any 
thing,  it  overturns  all  Protestantism,  and  establishes 
Catholicism  in  its  place ;  for  Protestantism  is  only  a 
protest  against  Catholicism,  which  must,  therefore,  be 
the  older.  But  Buddhism,  which  was  established 
twenty-five  hundred  years  ago,  says  to  Catholicism, - 
"  Out,  you  baby  of  yesterday ! "  but,  scarcely  seats 
itself  in  the  temple,. before  it  is  unceremoniously  eject- 
ed by  hoary  Paganism,  the  son  of  the  ages. 

For  a  doctrine  to  commend  itself  to  the  thinkers  of 
the  nineteenth  century  it  must  be  true.  It  matters 
not  whether  one  or  one  million  believe  it ;  whether  it 
is  declared  by  the  beggar,  whose  shivering  body  the 
rags  but  miserably  protect,  or  comes  from  heaven  with 
a  voice  of  thunder  and  the  answering  response  of 
archangels.  The  only  significant  question  that  we  can 
ask  is,  Is  it  true  ?  If  not,  God  himself  cannot  save  it 
from  the  perdition  that  awaits  it. 


8 


113 


114 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


115 


Is  Spiritualism  true  ?  What  is  Spiritualism  ?  It  is 
iiot  a  belief  in  the  writings  of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis. 
It  is  not  an  indorsement  of  the  manifestations  that  are 
said  to  occur  through  the  Davenports,  or  Eddys,  Miss 
Ellis,  or  Mrs.  Blair  ;  nor  is  it  to  believe  all  that  is  pub- 
lished in  "  The  Banner  of  Light,"  or  declared  by  the 
thousands  of  mediums  who  speak  in  the  name  of  the 
departed  throughout  tlie  land.  Whatever  truth  there 
may  be  in  them,  I  object  to  making  Spiritualism  re- 
sponsible for  all  these  things,  many  of  which  can  only 
be  known  to  be  true  by  examinations  tliat  one  may 
have  neither  time  nor  ability  to  make,  and  that  the 
parties  concerned  are  sometimes  unable,  and  sometimes 
unwilling,  to  permit. 

What  is  Spiritualism,  then?  Webster  gives  the 
following  definition  of  it :  "  Spiritualism  is  a  belief  in 
the  frequent  communication  of  intelligence  from  the 
world  of  spirits,  by  means  of  physical  phenomena  com- 
monly manifested  through  a  person  of  susceptibility, 
called  a  '  medium.'  "  A  better,  because  a  more  accu- 
rate definition  is,  "  Spiritualism  is  a  belief  in  the  com- 
munication of  intelligence  from  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted, commonly  obtained  through  a  person  of  sus- 
ceptibility, called  a  '  medium.'  " 

Tlie  spirit  is  something  that  exists  when  the  body 
dies;  but,  since  we  see  nothing  depart,  it  is  invisible; 
it  communicates,  according  to  our  definition,  with  the 
living ;  it  has,  then,  organs  by  which  its  communica- 
tions are  made :  hence  Spiritualism  is  first  a  belief 
that  man  possesses  a  spirit  (the  unseen  man)  that  is 
not  bound  by  the  limitation  of  the  senses,  but  can  see 
without  using  the  bodily  eye,  hear  when  no  sound  is 
conveyed  to  the  outward  ear,  and  can  travel  without 


the  body's  organs  of  locomotion.  Does  man  possess 
such  a  spirit  V  If  he  does,  we  may  reasonably  expect 
to  find  some  evidence  of  it  in  the  present  condition  of 
existence,  as  we  see  in  the  egg  before  it  is  hatched  the 
undeveU>ped  wings  that  are  eventually  to  be  used  m 
flying.  If  man  is  to  see  in  the  future,  when  the  eye 
has  become  dust,  we  may  expect  to  find  some  indica- 
tion of  it  while  he  is  still  in  the  body ;  and  this  we  do. 

The  writers  of  the  famous  Atkinson  and  Martineau 
Letters  (Dr.  Atkinson  and  Harriet  Martineau)  fear- 
lessly announce  in  them  (and  I  admire  their  honesty 
and  boldness),  that  they  arc  atheists,  and  have  no  faith 
in  man's  existence  after  death  ;  *  and  yet  they  present 
us  with  facts  that  establish,  I  think,  the  existence  in 
man  of  something  altogether  distinct  from  the  body, 
and  that  can  obtain  knowledge  without  using  the  ordi- 
nary senses.  I  quote  from  them,  because  testimony 
in  reference  to  this  question  coming  from  such  a  source 
is  particularly  valuable  ;  their  opinions  giving  them  no 
bias  in  the  direction  of  belief  in  such  facts,  but  rather 
the  contrary. 

Dr.  Atkinson  says,  "  I  had  once  a  very  remarkable 
patient,  a  somntimbule,  who,  with  the  eyes  closed,  could 
easily  read  any  writing  I  gave  her.  She  read  it  from 
the  top  of  her  head,  or  when  placed  in  her  hand,  or,  in 
fact,  from  any  part  of  her  body;  and  it  was  to  be  noticed, 
in  this  case,  that,  the  more  tightly  you  pressed  upon  her 
eyes,  the  more  clearly  she  could  see."  Dr.  Atkinson 
adds,  "  This  was  a  young  lady  staying  with  my  mother 
and  sisters ;  and  I  may  say,  that  no  one,  however  scepti- 

♦  I  am  glad  to  learn,  since  thia  was  written,  that  Harriet  Martineau  has 
become  convinced  of  man's  future  existence. 


( 


III 


116 


13  SPIEIT0ALI8M  TRUE? 


18  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


117 


ii'; 


I, 


r 


i 


cal,  doubted  clairvoyance  after  seeing  this  case.     The 
clear  evidence  and  daylight  facts  were  too  strong  for 

scepticism  itself."  * 

Instead  of  seeing  with  her  eyes,  then,  the  more  un- 
favorably her  eyes  were  situated  for  seeing,  and  the 
more  readily  she  could  see. 

So  satisfied  of  clairvoyance  had  he  be.come,  that  he 
says,  "  I  have  heard  men  say, '  We  are  men  of  facts, 
and  do  not  believe  in  clairvoyance'  I  have  replied, 
'  You  are  not  men  of  facts,  or,  at  least,  not  of  these  facts. 
You  are  like  machines  which  spin  out  only  one  kind 
of  fabric.  You  are  men  of  one  language  and  one 
country ;  prisoners  with  a  window  to  the  north,  and 
declare  there  is  no  moon.' ''  f  ^  class  of  prisoners  of 
which  there  are  not  a  few  in  our  own  country. 

This  making  the  circle  of  a  man's  knowledge  the 
boundary  of  the  universe  has  been  altogether  too  com- 
mon ;  and  even  Carlyle  and  Emerson,  men  of  uncom- 
mon  ability  in  many  directions,  have  shown  themselves 
very  circumscribed  in  this  respect,  sneering  at  that 
which  they  have  never  or  very  slightly  investigated. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Dr.  Atkinson  speaks  so  confi- 
dently on  the  subject  of  clairvoyance ;  for  he  is  a  clair- 
voyant himself.  He  says,  "  One  evening,  I  saw  very 
distinctly,  when  a  few  steps  from  my  door,  two  letters 
on  my  table,  and  from  the  same  person.  '  Now,'  I 
thought, '  this  will  show  me  that  these  perceptions  are 
crude  fancies ; '  for  I  had  received  a  letter  from  the 
same  person  the  day  before,  and  it  was  out  of  all  prob- 
ability that  there  should  be  two  more  letters  from  the 
same  person,  by  the  same  post.    On  entering  the  room, 

•  Atkinson  and  Martineau  Letters,  p.  104.         t  Ibid.  p.  p.  153, 


there  were  the  two  letters,  sure  enough,  and  lying 
precisely  as  I  had  seen  them  ;  and  I  must  say  it  made 
me  start,  for  this  I  could  not  suppose  to  be  a  coinci- 
dence." * 

Wliat  was  this  which  saw  the  two  letters  on  his  table, 
when  he  was  several  steps  from  the  door,  so  that  he 
knew  how  thej  lay,  and  whom  they  were  from  ?  Cer- 
tainly we  have  no  knowledge  of  the  bodily  senses  pos- 
sessing such  power.  I  think  we  shall  see,  in  the  light 
of  accumulated  facts,  that,  in  this  case,  the  spirit-eyes 
beheld  the  letters,  —  these  eyes  that  can  see  through  a 
brick  wall  as  readily  as  through  air,  and  a  hundred 
miles  off  as  distinctly  as  at  twelve  inches. 

However  unlikely  that  it  should  be,  some  would  ac- 
count for  this  by  coincidence :  "  He  happened  to  think 
of  two  letters  from  that  person  at  that  time,  and 
it  happened  to  be  so ;  that  is  all."  Such  an  explana- 
tion cannot,  however,  be  given  in  the  following  cases: 
"  Dr.  Gregory,  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh,  tells  us  that  Major  JBuckley  has  pro- 
duced conscious  clairvoyance  in  eighty-nine  persons ; 
of  whom  forty-four  have  been  able  to  read  mottoes 
contained  in  nut-shells  purchased  by  other  parties  for 
the  experiment.  The  longest  motto  thus  read  con- 
tained ninety-eight  words.  Many  subjects  will  read 
motto  after  motto  without  one  mistake.  In  this  way, 
the  mottoes  contained  in  four  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  sixty  nut-shells  have  been  read,  some  of  them,  in- 
deed, by  persons  in  the  mesmeric  sleep,  but  most  of 
them  by  persons  in  the  conscious  state,  many  of 
whom  have  never  been  put  to  sleep.    In  boxes,  upward 

•  Atkinson  and  Martineau  Letters,  p.  110. 


116 


IS  SPIPwIT0ALISM  TRUE? 


cal,  doubted  clairvoyance  after  seeing  this  case.  The 
clear  evidence  and  daylight  facts  were  too  strong  for 
scepticism  itself.''  * 

Instead  of  seeing  with  her  eyes,  then,  the  more  un- 
favorably her  eyes  were  situated  for  seeing,  and  the 
more  readily  she  could  see. 

So  satisfied  of  clairvoyance  had  he  be^iome,  that  he 
says,  "  I  have  heard  men  say, '  We  are  men  of  facts, 
and  do  not  believe  in  clairvoyance.^  I  have  replied, 
'  You  are  not  men  of  facts,  or,  at  least,  not  of  these  facts. 
You  are  like  machines  which  spin  out  only  one  kind 
of  fabric.  You  are  men  of  one  language  and  one 
country ;  prisoners  with  a  window  to  the  north,  and 
declare  there  is  no  moon.'  "  f  ^  class  of  prisoners  of 
which  there  are  not  a  few  in  our  own  country. 

This  making  the  circle  of  a  man's  knowledge  the 
boundary  of  the  universe  has  been  altogether  too  com- 
mon ;  and  even  Carlyle  and  Emerson,  men  of  uncom- 
mon ability  in  many  directions,  have  shown  themselves 
very  circumscribed  in  this  respect,  sneering  at  that 
which  they  have  never  or  very  slightly  investigated. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Dr.  Atkinson  speaks  so  confi- 
dently on  the  subject  of  clairvoyance ;  for  he  is  a  clair- 
voyant himself.  He  says,  "  One  evening,  I  saw  very 
distinctly,  when  a  few  steps  from  my  door,  two  letters 
on  my  table,  and  from  the  same  person.  '  Now,'  I 
thought, '  this  will  show  me  that  those  perceptions  are 
crude  fancies ; '  for  I  had  received  a  letter  from  the 
same  person  the  day  before,  and  it  was  out  of  all  prob- 
ability that  there  should  be  two  more  letters  from  the 
same  person,  by  the  same  post.    On  entering  the  room, 


*  AtkinsoQ  arid  Martineau  Letters,  p.  104.         f  Ibid.  p.  p.  153. 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


117 


there  were  the  two  letters,  sure  enough,  and  lying 
precisely  as  I  had  seen  them  ;  and  I  must  say  it  made 
me  start,  for  this  I  could  not  suppose  to  be  a  coinci- 
dence." * 

Wliat  was  this  which  saw  the  two  letters  on  his  table, 
when  ho  was  several  steps  from  the  door,  so  that  he 
knew  how  thej  lay,  and  whom  they  were  from  ?  Cer- 
tainly we  have  no  knowledge  of  the  bodily  senses  pos- 
sessing such  power.  I  think  we  shall  sec,  in  the  light 
of  accumulated  facts,  that,  in  this  case,  the  spirit-eyes 
beheld  the  letters,  —  tlieso  eyes  that  can  see  through  a 
brick  wall  as  readily  as  through  air,  and  a  hundred 
miles  olT  as  distinctly  as  at  twelve  inches. 

However  unlikely  that  it  should  be,  some  would  ac- 
count for  this  by  coincidence :  "  He  happened  to  think 
of   two  letters   from  that  person  at  that  time,  and 
It  happened  to  be  so ;  that  is  all."     Such  an  explana- 
tion  cannot,  however,  be  given  in  the  following  cases: 
"  Dr.  Gregory,  professor  of  chemistrv  in  tiie  Univer- 
sity  of  Edinburgh,  tells  us  that  Major  Buckley  has  pro- 
duced  conscious  clairvoyance  in  cighty-nine  persons; 
of  whom  forty-four  have  been  able  to  read    mottoes 
contained  in  nut-shells  purchased  by  other  parties  for 
the  experiment.      The  longest  motto  thus  read  con- 
tamed  ninety-eight  words.      Many  subjects  will  read 
motto  after  motto  without  one  mistake.     In  this  way, 
the  mottoes  contained  in  four  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  sixty  nut-shells  have  been  read,  some  of  them,  in- 
deed, by  persons  in  the  mesmeric  sleep,  but  most  of 
them   by    persons    in    the  conscious  state,   many  of 
whom  have  never  been  put  to  sleep.    In  boxes,  upward 

•  Atkinson  and  Martineau  Letters,  p.  110. 


118 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


119 


of  thirty-six  thousand  words  have  been  read ;  in  one 
paper,  three  hundred  and  seventy-one  words.  Includ- 
ing those  who  have  read  words  contained  in  boxes 
when  in  the  sleep,  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  per- 
sons have  thus  read.  In  a  lew  cases,  the  words  may 
have  been  read  by  thought-reading,  as  the  persons  who 
put  them  in  the  boxes  were  present ;  bnt,  in  most  cases, 
no  one  who  knew  the  words  lias  been  present,  and  they 
must,  therefore,  have  been  read  l)y  direct  clairvoyance. 
The  nuts  enclosing  mottoes,  for  example,  have  been 
purchased  of  forty  dilTerent  confectioners,  and  have 
been  sealed  up  till  read."  * 

Dr.  Ashburner  of  London,  not  trusting  to  the  nut- 
shells furnished  by  the  major,  purchased  some  himself, 
and  these  were  read  by  the  clairvoyants  with  accuracy,  f 
He  also  says, ''  Delicately  sensitive  persons  have,  in  my 
presence,  read  printed  words  and  sentences  on  slips  of 
paper,  previously  concealed  from  them  carefully  in 
another  apartment,  in  the  innermost  of  a  nest  of  four 
silver  boxes,  all  enclosed  in  a  morocco  case,  or  folded 
up  in  nutshells.'^ 

"  All  that  is  done  by  mind-reading,"  says  one.  But, 
where  the  mottoes  were  sealed  up  till  read,  this  ap- 
pears to  be  impossible  ;  and,  in  the  following  case  given 
by  Dr.  Gregory,  it  was  manifestly  impossible,  for  the 
individual  who  supposed  he  knew  the  word  was  mis- 
taken, and  the  clairvoyant  right. 

"  On  one  occasion.  Sir  T.Willshire  took  home  a  nest 
of  boxes  belonging  to  the  major,  and  placed  in  the 
inner  box  a  paper  on  which  lie  had  written  a  word. 
He  sealed  up  the  boxes  in  paper,  and  asked  one  of  the 

•  Gregory's  Letters  on  Animal  Magnetism,  p.  302. 

t  Aehbumer's  Animal  Magnetism  and  Spirituulism,  p.  271 


clairvoyants  to  read  it.  She  said  she  saw  the  word 
*  concert.'  He  declared  that  she  was  wrong,  though 
'  right  with  regard  to  the  first  and  last  letters.  She  per- 
sisted that  it  was  '  concert ; '  and,  opening  the  boxes,  it 
was  found  that  she  was  correct,  the  baronet  having 
forgotten  the  word  ''  * 

Rev.  Cliauncey  H.  Townshend  tells  us  of  a  young 

man,  E.  A ,  whom  he  mesmerized,  and  took  into  a 

perfectly  dark  closet,  when,  ho  says,  "  I  drew  a  card  at 
hazard  from  a  pack  with  which  I  had  provided  myself, 
and  presented  to  him.  He  said  it  was  so  and  so.  The 
admission  of  light  established  his  correctness :  it  was 
the  card  he  had  named.  The  experiment  repeated 
four  times  gave  the  same  satisfactory  result.  He  used 
to  declare,  tliat,  the  more  complete  the  darkness  was, 
the  better  he  could  exercise  his  new  mode  of  percep- 
tion." t 

Such  evidence  as  this  miglit  be  considered  sufficient 
to  establish  the  fact  of  clairvoyance;  but  extraor- 
dinary evidence  is  needed  to  establish  extraordinary 
facts. 

In  1825,  Dr.  Foissac  demanded  of  the  Royal  Acade- 
my of  Medicine  in  Paris,  that  a  commission  should  be 
appointed  to  examine  the  claims  of  animal  magnetism. 
Nine  men  of  learning,  several  of  whom  had  European 
repntations,  were  appointed,  and  after  five  years  pub- 
lished their  report.  In  this  report  they  state  that 
animal  magnetism  may  produce  somnambulic  sleep; 
that  some  sleepers  can  see  with  their  eyes  closed,  can 
foretell  accurately,  even  months  in  advance,  the  time 
of  the  access  of  epileptic  fits,  or  the  time  of  their  cure; 

•  Gregory's  Letters  on  Animal  Magnetism,  p.  272. 
t  Towushend's  Facts  in  Animal  Magnetism,  p.  244. 


120 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


121 


A 


and  can  discover  the  diseases  of  persons  with  whom 
they  arc  placed  in  magnetic  connection.* 

Baron  Relchenbach,  the  well-known  chemist,  and 
author  of  the  ''Dynamics  of  Magnetism,"  says  that 
high  sensitives  in  the  somnambulic  condition,  when 
they  have  their  eyes  closed,  perceive  the  forms  and 
colors  of  the  external  world,  and  in  the  same  manner 
they  can  look  into  the  human  body. 

Dr.  Colby  of  Stanstead,  Canada,  informed  mo  that 
he  had  a  patient  who  was  so  good  a  clairvoyant,  that 
she  road  for  him  a  paper  just  taken  from  the  press, 
with  hi;r  eyes  bandaged,  and  a  tea-tray  between  her 
eyes  and  the  paper. 

There  arc  but  few  who  have  investigated  mesmeric 
or  psychometric  phenomena,  who  have  not  had  oppor- 
tunities of  seeing  clairvoyant  phenomena.  "  Vision," 
says  M.  Teste, "  through  the  closed  eyelids,  and  through 
opaque  bodies,  is  not  only  a  real  fact,  but  a  very/re- 
quent  fact.  There  is  no  magnetizer  who  has  not  ol»- 
served  it  twenty  times ;  and  I  know  at  the  present 
day,  in  Paris  alone,  a  very  great  number  of  somnam- 
bulists who  might  furnish  proofs  of  it."  f  I  l^^^c  had 
very  frequent  opportunities  of  observing  the  exercise 
of  this   power,  both  in  mesmeric  and    psychometric 

subjects. 

It  is  evident  that  the  eye  is  not  necessary  to  enable 
some  persons  to  see ;  and  the  reason  appears  to  be, 
that  the  indwelling  spirit,  although  ordinarily  depend- 
ent upon  the  senses  for  its  knowledge  of  the  exterior 
world,  is  not  confined  to  them.  It  can  see  by  other  por- 
tions of  the  body  as  well  as  by  the  eyes,  hear  by  the 

•  New  American  Cyclopaedia,  art.  "Animal  Magnetism." 
t  Quoted  by  Bush  in  Mesmer  and  Swedenborg,  p.  107. 


fingers  as  well  as  by  the  ears,  and  can  both  see  and 
hear  when  it  appears  impossible  that  any  portion  of 
the  body  can  be  influenced  by  what  is  seen  and  heard. 
Dr.  Mayo,  professor  of  comparative  anatomy  in  the 
Royal  College  of   Surgeons,  London,  relates  several 
instances  of  such  phenomena.     He  says,  "  The  psychi- 
cal phenomena  exhibited  by  the  patient  when  thus  en- 
tranced are  the  following :     The  organs  of  sensation 
are  deserted  by  their  natural  sensibihty.     The  patient 
neither  feels  with  the  skin,  nor  sees  with  the  eyes,  nor 
hears  with  the  ears,  nor  tastes  with  the  mouth.     All 
these  senses,  however,  arc  not  lost.     Sight  and  hear- 
ing, if  not  smell  and  taste,  re-appear  in  some  other 
part, —  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  for  instance,  or  the 
tips  of  the  fingers. 

"  The  patient  manifests  new  perceptive  powers.  She 
discerns  objects  all  around  her,  and  through  any  ob- 
structions, partitions,  walls,  or  houses,  and  at  an  in- 
definite distance.  She  sees  her  own  inside,  as  it  were, 
illuminated,  and  can  tell  what  is  wrong  in  the  health 
of  others."  * 

Dr.  Gregory  says,  "  The  clairvoyant  power  has  been 
observed  to  be  located  in  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  in  the 
tips  of  the  fingers,  in  the  occiput  as  well  as  in  the 
forehead,  or  on  the  top  of  the  head.  ...  In  one  form 
or  other,  the  power  of  dispensing  with  the  eyes,  and 
yet  perceiving  color,  <fec.,  quite  plainly,  is  found  in  every 
good  subject. 

"The  same  thing  frequently  happens  in  hearing. 
Thus  E.,  when  on  her  travelling  state  or  stage,  is  utter- 
ly deaf  to  all  sounds  save  those  which  are  addressed 

•  Popular  Superstitions,  p.  121. 


122 


IS  SPIEITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


123 


I 


to  her  by  speaking  with  the  mouth  in  contact  with  tho 
tips  of  her  fingers.    This  fact  I  have  myself  verified."  * 
Dr.  Mayo  relates  the  following  on  the  authority  of 
Baron  de  Fortis.     The  patient  had  epilepsy,  for  tho 
cure  of  which  she  went  to  Aix.     ''  There  she  had  all 
sorts  of  fits    and  day-somnambulism,   during   which 
she  waited  at  table,  with  her  eyes  shut  perfectly.    She 
likewise  saw  alternately  with  her  fingers,  the  palm  of 
her  hand,  and  her  elbow,  and  would  write  with  pre- 
cision with  the  right  hand,  superintending  the  process 
with  her  left  elbow.''     In   explanation  of  such  phe- 
nomena. Dr.  Mayo  says,  "  The  possibility  of  an  abnor- 
mal relation  of  the  mind  and  body,  allowing  the  for- 
mer either  to  shift  the  place  of  its  manifestations  in  the 
nervous  system,  or  partially  to  energize  as  free  spirit, 
is  the  only  principle  which  at  present  ofibrs  any  solu- 
tion  of   the   new   powers  displayed  in   catalepsy.''  f 
And  I  think  this  explanation  is  the  true  one. 

"  But  is  it  not  possible  that  the  brain  has  the  power 
of  receiving  sensations  by  other  than  the  ordinary 
channels,  and  that  it  is  the  brain,  after  all,  by  which 
this  is  accomplished,  and  not  a  spirit  behind  or  within 

the  man  ?  " 

It  is  well  that  this  question  should  be  asked,  and  tho 
reasons  given  for  regarding  the  spirit  as  the  agent,  and 
not  the  brain.  "  During  sleep,"  says  Dr.  Hammond, 
"  the  brain  is  in  a  comparatively  bloodless  condition, 
and  the  blood  in  the  encephalic  vessels  is  not  only 
diminished  in  quantity,  but  moves  with  diminished 
rapidity."  J     If  the  brain  is  tho  agent  concerned  in 

•  Gregory's  Letters  on  Animal  Magnetism,  p.  148. 

t  Popular  Superstitions,  p.  130. 

I  Sleep  and  its  Derangements,  p.  86. 


clairvoyant  and  clairaudiont  phenomena,  its  power  be- 
ing very  much  reduced  by  sleep,  we  sliould  naturally 
expect  that  sleep  would  decrease  or  destroy  its  ability 
in  this  direction :  but  the  very  opposite  seems  to  bo 
the  case;  for  many  who  possess  no  clairvoyant  power 
in  the  waking  condition  have,  in  sleep,  a  remarkable 
development  of  it. 

William  Ilowitt  relates  the  following  case,  which  is 
also  given  by  Mayo.  In  December,  1848,  Mr.  Smith, 
gardener  to  Sir  Clifford  Constable,  disappeared  ;  but 
his  hat  and  stick  were  found  near  the  River  Tees. 
The  river  was  dragged  daily,  but  to  no  purpose.  One 
night,  a  person  named  Awde,  living  at  Little  Newsham, 
dreamed  that  Smith  was  laid  under  the  ledge  of  a  cer- 
tain rock  about  three  hundred  yards  below  Whorlton 
Bridge,  and  that  his  right  arm  was  broken.  He  got  up 
early  the  next  morning,  and  determined  to  search  the 
river.  On  arriving  at  the  boat-house,  he  told  the  boat- 
man his  object,  on  being  asked  for  what  purpose  he 
wished  the  boat.  He  rowed  to  the  spot  he  had  seen 
in  his  dream,  and  pulled  up  the  body  of  the  man  with 
the  boat-hook,  on  the  first  trial,  with  his  right  arm  ac- 
tually broken.*  There  is  no  intimation  given,  that 
Mr.  Awde  possessed  any  clairvoyant  power  in  his  wak- 


ing state. 


Similar  instances  might  be  given,  for  they  are  by  no 
means  rare  ("some  I  shall  give  in  another  connection), 
that  seem  to  prove  that  the  brain,  which,  as  is  now 
well  known,  is  contracted  in  sleep,  and  therefore  less 
fitted  for  obtaining  ideas,  cannot  be  the  agent  in  clair- 
voyance, but  it  must  be  the  all-seeing  spirit. 

•  Ennemoser's  History  of  Magic,  p.  417. 


124 


IS  SPIEITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIEITUALISM  TRUE? 


125 


III 


Mesmerism  induces,  generally,  a  state  of  still  deeper 
sleep  than  the  ordinary,  and  therefore  less  fitted  for 
the  action  of  the  brain  ;  and  yet  in  just  that  proportion 
does  it  seem  to  be  favorable  for  the  exercise  of  clair- 
voyance and  its  accompanying  phenomena  ;  and  when 
the  deepest  sleep  is  secured  by  magnetism,  and  the 
eye  is  no  longer  sensitive  to  light,  the  ear  to  sound, 
and  the  skin  to  touch,  it  is  then  that  these  peculiar 
powers  are  most  frequently  and  clearly  manifested,  as 
nearly  all  writers  on  mesmerism  testify. 

When  approaching  death  enfeebles  all  the  body's 
powers,  then  the  permeating  spirit  asserts  its  true  na- 
ture, most  strong  when  the  body  is  most  weak. 

The  Rev.  Hare  Townshend  gives  us  an  instance  of 
this.  Chevalier  Filippi  of  Milan  informed  him  of  a 
patient  of  his  who  had  an  abscess,  and  wliom,on  visiting, 
he  found  had  but  a  few  hours  to  live.  Leaving  the 
sick-chambo4-,  he  shut  the  door,  and  passed  through 
two  other  rooms,  the  doors  of  whicli  he  also  carefully 
shut,  and  entered  an  apartment  where  some  friends  of 
the  patient  were  assembled.  To  these  he  said,  speak- 
ing in  a  low  tone,  ''  The  Signor  Valdrighi  is  much 
worse.  He  cannot  possibly  survive  till  morning." 
Scarcely  had  he  uttered  the  words,  when  the  patient's 
bell  was  heard  to  ring  violently,  and  soon  after  a 
servant  summoned  the  doctor  back  again.  "  Why  did 
you  deceive  me? "  exclaimed  the  dying  man:  *'  1  heard 
every  word  you  said  just  now  in  the  farther  apart- 
ment." He  then  repeated  to  the  astonished  physician 
the  very  words  he  had  made  use  of.*  How,  otherwise, 
can  such  facts  be  explained,  than  as  evidences  of  man's 

•  Townsheud's  Facts  iu  Auioaal  Maguetum,  p.  821. 


possession  of  a  spirit  whose  powers  are  altogether  su- 
perior to  those  of  the  body  ? 

The  fact  that  one  person  can  read  the  thoughts  of 
another,  no  word  being  spoken,  and  no  communication 
given,  most  persons  conversant  with  mesmerism  are 
familiar  with.  I  have  sometimes  heard  people  say, 
when  attempting  to  explain  remarkable  mesmeric  or 
spiritual  phenomena,  "  Oh,  well !  that  is  thought-read- 
ing." But  what,  pray,  is  thought-reading  ?  Can  we 
imagine  any  thing  more  remarkable  ?  In  ordinary 
clairvoyance,  obj[ects  that  the  eye  might  behold  are 
seen ;  but  in  thought-reading  that  is  done  which  no 
bodily  sense  can  accomplish,  unless  it  is  some  sense  of 
which  as  yet  we  know  nothing. 

Dr.  Mayo  says,  "  Presently,  if  his  trance-faculties 
continue  to  be  developed,  the  entranced  person  enters 
into  communication  with  the  entire  mind  of  the  mes- 
merizer.  His  apprehension  seems  to  penetrate  the 
brain  of  the  latter,  and  is  capable  of  reading  all  his 
thoughts."  *  ' 

Dr.  Gregory  says,  "The  sleeper,  being  placed  en  rap- 
port with  any  person,  can  often  describe  with  the  great- 
est accuracy  the  subject  that  occupies  the  thoughts  of 
that  person.  It  may  be  an  absent  friend,  or  his  own 
house,  or  that  of  another,  or  his  drawing-room,  bed- 
room, study,  &c.,  —  all  these  things  the  sleeper  per- 
ceives as  they  pass  through  the  mind  of  the  experi- 
menter, and  describes  with  great  minuteness  and  accu- 
racy. ...  He  perceives  things  once  known  to,  and  now 
forgotten  by,  the  experimenter."  f 

Townshend  relates  that  a  lady,  wishing  to  test  a  mes- 

•  Popular  Superstitions,  p.  177. 

t  Letters  on  Animal  Magnetism,  pp.  108, 109. 


jdSi 


126 


13  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


127 


ineric  subject  of  his,  was  about  to  choose  two  cards 
from  a  number  lying  upon  the  table,  and  then  ask  him 
to  discover  which  they  were.  She  had  chosen  the 
cards  by  her  eye  only,  in  perfect  silence,  and  standing 
behind  the  subject,  when  he  exclaimed,  ''  Why  should 
I  go  throngh  this  farce  ?  I  know  already  the  two 
cards  which  the  lady  thought  of:  they  were  so  and  so." 
He  was  perfectly  right.  * 

But  what  is  this  that  reads  thoughts  ?  Certainly 
not  the  eye,  and  assuredly  no  other  known  sense.  Can 
it  be  the  brain,  destitute  of  all  organs  for  that  purpose  ? 
Can  it  be  other  than  the  spirit,  exercising  those  powers 
which  it  will  constantly  employ  when  released  from 
the  body  ?    Within  us  all  these  wondrous  powers  lie  as 

"  The  wiugs  that  form 
The  butterfly  lie  folded  ia  the  worm." 

Were  it  not,  however,  for  other  and  more  convincing 
evidence  of  the  spirit's  existence  and  operation,  we 
might  still  refer  all  these  cases  to  the  operation  of  some 
occult  power  in  the  body  yet  to  be  discovered.  But 
the  persons  through  whom  such  phenomena  are  mani- 
fested, frequently  have  the  sensation  of  being  distinct 
from  the  body,  of  even  looking  down  upon  it,  of  trav- 
elling to  distant  localities,  and  returning  again  to  the 
body.  All  who  have  experimented  much  in  mesmer- 
ism are  familiar  with  this ;  and  evidence  on  this  subject 
is  quite  voluminous.  Dr.  Mayo  says,  "  Tlieso  more 
complicated  cases  prove  that  the  clairvoyant  actually 
pays  a  mental  visit  to  the  scene.  But  she  can  do 
more :  she  can  pass  on  to  other  and  remoter  scenes 

*  Townsheud's  Facts  in  Animal  Magnetism,  p.  447. 


and  places  of  which  her  fellow-traveller  has  no  cog- 
nizance." * 

Thomas  C.  Hartshorn,  a  well-known    magnetizer, 
writing  many  years  ago  for  "The  Providence  Journal," 
says  of  a  friend  whom  he  had  magnetized, ''  I  can  send 
him  forth  instantly  through  the  thick  darkness  of  night 
into  distant  lands,  and  cause  him  to  bring  us  tidings 
of  our  absent  friends.     His  spirit  seems  to  delight  in 
this  activity:  his  intellectual  countenance   brightens 
up  with  various  emotions.     He  glides  along  the  sur- 
face of  the  parth  and  ocean  as  rapid  as  the  lambent 
borealis ;  and  ever  and  anon,  as  dififerent  scenes  arrest 
his  attention,  he  bursts  out  into  involuntary  exclama- 
tions of  pleasure  or  surprise,  of  joy  or  sorrow."    This 
is  uo  exaggeration,  as  my  own  experience  with  clair- 
voyants has  repeatedly  demonstrated.     Before  the  ad- 
vent of  modern  Spiritualism,  I  had,  on  numerous  occa- 
sions, sent  mesmeric  subjects  on  distant  journeys,  and 
obtained  from  them  knowledge  of  events  then  transpir- 
ing, as  subsequent  inquiries  proved,  —  events   abso- 
lutely unknown  to  all  others  present,  and  of  such  a 
character  that  they  could  not  be  guessed. 

Mr.  Hartshorn  again  says, ''  That  the  human  spirit 
hath  power  to  leave  the  body,  and  take  cognizance  of 
things  distant  in  space,  is  but  an  elementary  truth  in 
this  branch  of  psychology." 

Dr.  Cleaveland  of  Providence  gives  the  following 
statement,  made  to  him  by  a  carpenter,  who  fell  from 
the  staging  of  a  building  to  the  ground.  "  As  I  struck 
the  ground,"  said  he,  "  I  suddenly  bounded  up,  seem- 
ing to  have  a  new  body,  and  to  be  standing  among  the 

•  Popular  Superstitions,  p.  191. 


128 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


129 


^t 


spectators,  looking  at  mj  old  one.  I  saw  them  trying 
to  bring  it  to.  I  made  several  fruitless  efforts  to  re- 
enter my  body,  and  finally  succeeded." 

Mr.  Moore  of  Maiden,  an  officer  in  the  Cliarlestown 
navy-yard,  informed  me,  that,  when  fifteen  years  of  age, 
he  fell  in  climbing  a  lamp-post ;  and  liis  head  struck 
the  curb-stone  of  the  street  with  such  violence  as  'to 
fracture  his  skull.  He  instantly  found  himself  out  of 
his  body,  and  looking  down  upon  it ;  but  in  a  few  min- 
utes, with  a  struggle,  was  able  to  return  to  ordinary 
consciousness.  *     • 

Sensations  similar  to  those  have  been  frequently  ex- 
perienced by  intelligent  and  reliable  persons  with 
whom  I  have  conversed ;  and  I  know  of  no  way  in 
which  they  can  be  accounted  for  save  by  acknowledg- 
ing that  man  does  possess  a  spirit  having  organs  of 
sensation. 

John  0.  Wattles  of  Kansas,  well  known  in  the  West 
as  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  earnest  laborers  in 
the  antislavcry  cause  at  a  time  when  to  be  such  was 
to  be  ostracised,  informed  me,  that,  on  one  occasion,  he 
accidentally  discovered  that  his  spirit  could  leave  the 
body,  and  return.  He  found,  afterward,  that  this  could 
bQ  done  at  will ;  and  he  frequently  looked  down  as  a 
spectator  upon  his  body  lying  in  a  death-like  trance, 
and  then  roamed  at  pleasure  over  the  earth,  and  re- 
turned again. 

Psychometcrs  have  frequently  the  power  to  do  this  ; 
yet  the  body,  in  their  case,  presents  no  apparent  differ- 
ence froai  its  ordinary  condition.  Mrs.  Cridge,  Mrs. 
Denton,  and  my  sou  Sherman,  travel  spiritually  with 
great  ease,  and  describe  with  great  accuracy  distant 
localities  never  visited  by  them,  and  sometimes  un- 


known to  all  persons  present.  They  describe  them- 
selves as  being  there,  to  all  appearance,  in  the  body,  so 
that  they  can  see  its  different  parts ;  the  spiritual  body 
being  as  real  to  spiritual  sight  as  the  physical  body  is 
to  the  physical  eye,  and  quite  as  much  so  to  the  touch. 
They  can  hear,  see,  feel,  taste,  smell,  and,  in  short, 
exercise  every  sense,  much  more  perfectly  than  if  pres- 
ent in  tliQ  body:  and  this  I  have  known  psychometcrs 
to  express  hundreds  of  times  ;  several  independent 
psychometcrs,  knowing  nothing  of  the  experience  of 
others,  giving  exactly  similar  statements. 

Lydia  Maria  Child  has  just  published  the  following 
statement  regarding  her  deceased  friend  Henrietta 
Sargent.  "  One  morning,  she  spoke  of  not  feeling  as 
well  as  usual ;  but  it  was  regarded  by  herself  and  oth- 
ers as  merely  a  slight  deviation  from  her  customary 
good  health.  But  in  the  course  of  the  day  she  sud- 
denly fainted  away.  As  the  usual  restoratives  pro- 
duced no  effect,  the  family  physician  was  summoned. 
No  better  success  attended  his  efforts.  The  breath 
appeared  to  be  entirely  suspended,  and  the  limbs  re- 
mained rigid  and  cold.  Her  daughters  feared  she 
must  be  dead  ;  and  the  doctor  began  to  be  doubtful 
whether  animation  would  ever  be  restored.  How  loi\g 
she  continued  in  this  state,  I  do  not  remember.  But, 
while  they  were  watching  her  with  ever-deepening 
anxiety,  slid  gasped  feebly,  and,  after  a  while,  opened 
her  eyes.  When  she  had  completely  recovered,  she 
told  her  daughters  she  had  been  standing  by  them  all 
the  time,  looking  upon  her  lifeless  body,  and  seeing 
all  they  did  to  resuscitate  it ;  and  she  astonished  them 
by  repeating  the  minutest  'details  of  all  that  had  been 
said  or  done  by  them  and  the  doctor  during  her  pro- 
longed state  of  utter  insensibility." 


130 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


Dr.  Kerner  relates  of  the  Seeress  of  Prevorst:  "On 
the  28tli  of  May,  1827,  at  midnight,  when  I  was  with 
her,  she  again  saw  herself  sitting  on  a  stool.  .  .  .  She 
tried  to  cry  out,  but  could  neither  speak  nor  move.  .  .  . 
Tiie  image  ran  towards  her ;  and,  just  as  it  reached 
her,  a  sort  of  electric  shock  passed  over  her  which  I 
saw :  she  then  uttered  a  scream,  and  related  to  mo 
what  she  had  seen."  In  this  case,  the  body  appears 
to  have  seen  the  spirit;  in  all  cases  with  which  I  have 
been  conversant,  the  spirit  has  seen  the  body  or  seen 
itself.  All  tliese  facts,  however,  like  converging  rays, 
point  to  the  grand  luminous  truth  from  which  they 
proceed,  —  the  possession  by  man  of  a  spirit. 

I  have  noticed  that  when  persons  in  their  ordinary 
condition  have  no  belief  in  future  existence,  yet,  when 
their  spiritual  faculties  are  awakened,  they  realize  its 
truth,  and  rejoice  in  the  satisfaction  that  it  brings  to 
the  soul ;  and  the  more  highly-developed  mesmeric 
subjects  frequently  manifest  this. 

Townshend  tells  us  of  a  materialistic  young  French- 
man whom  he  frequently  mesmerized.  In  his  waking 
condition,  he  had  no  faith  in  future  existence,  and  was 
not  at  all  backward  in  declaring  it ;  but,  "  in  sleep- 
walking," says  Townshend,  '•  all  this  was  changed.  His 
ideas  of  the  mind  were  correct,  and  singularly  opposed 
to  the  material  views  he  took  of  all  questions  when  in 
the  waking  state.  .  .  .  Beautiful  are  the  things  he  has 
said  to  mo  respecting  the  soul's  recognition  of  those  it 
loved  on  earth,  and  of  the  privilege  of  departed  friends 
to  watch  over  the  objects  of  their  solicitude  while  toil- 
ing through  the  pilgrimage  of  life."  * 


*  Town3hend*8  Facts  in  Animal  Magnetism,  p.  163. 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


131 


These  facts  are  in  no  other  way  related  to  modern 
Spiritualism  than  as  evidencesof  the  existence  in  Na- 
ture of  that  of  which  the  facts  of  modern  Spiritualism 
are  more  recent  and  fuller  illustrations ;  most  of  them 
belong  to  a  time  previous  to  the  first  Rochester  rap. 

One  or  two  such  facts  might  be  considered  of  little 
importance  ;  but  together  they  form  a  body  of  evidence 
that  seems  to  me  absolutely  irresistible.  And,  if  thi^ 
is  true,  the  foundation  of  Spiritualism  is  true.  Man  is 
not  merely  an  animated  clod,  to  lie  down  with  his  fel- 
low-clods, and  know  no  more  than  they.  We  do  not 
see  all  there  is  of  him :  he  has  a  wondrous  body,  but 
a  vastly  more  wondrous  spirit,  to  which  no  night  is 
dark,  no  body  opaque ;  no  distance  can  baffle  its  gaze, 
no  bodily  sense  limit  its  knowledge.  It  is  the  true 
man,  and  the  body  but  its  incasement, —  the  shell, 
only  useful  till  the  spirit  is  plumed  for  its  flight. 

Then  the  materialist  and  the  adventist  are  alike 
wrong.  Tlie  materialist  sees  but  the  surface  of  things, 
knows  nothing  of  the  all-controlling  spirit  within, 
yet  makes  his  knowledge  the  boundary  of  the  universe. 
The  adventist  calls  in  miracle  where  it  is  altogether 
unnecessary.  Man  is  a  spirit :  he  is  not  to  become 
one.  Nature  knows  no  favored  saints,  who  are  to  be 
spiritually  created  for  the  barbarous  heaven  of  a  half- 
Jewish,  half-Christian  mythology,  while  the  rest  are 
left  to  sink  into  nonentity ;  but  she  has  given  to  all 
freely  as  life,  light,  and  air,  that  spirit  which  can  smile 
at  death,  and  soar  triumphant  when  the  lifeless  body 

sinks  to  the  dust. 

Spiritualism  also  includes  the  belief  that  this 
spirit  lives  when  the  body  dies.  Accept  the  first,  and 
there  is  little  difficulty  in  believing  the   second.    If 


132 


IS  SPIPwITUALISM  TRUE? 


TS  SPIRITtJALISM  TRUE? 


133 


til 


mail  has  a  spirit  that  can  see  without  using  the  eyes 
of  the  body ;  see  even  when  these  eyes  do  not  exist,  or 
are  incapable  of  vision,  as  in  the  case  of  blind  som- 
nambulists and  clairvoyants, — it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
suppose  that  it  may  see  when  its  connection  with  the 
body  is  entirely  destroyed  by  death.  If  he  has  a  spirit 
that  can  hear  sounds  that  are  made  hundreds  of  miles 
away  from  the  body,  and  thus  independent  of  the  body's 
ears,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  it  may  con- 
tinue to  hear  when  the  body  and  all  its  organs  are 
abandoned  by  the  spirit,  and  the  dust  claims  its  kin- 
dred dust.  And  why  may  not  the  spirit,  which  has 
demonstrated  its  independence  so  clearly  of  all  the 
body's  faculties,  continue  to  manifest  its  powers,  though 
the  body  be  no  more  ?  Why  should  we  possess  facul- 
ties all  but  unused,  or  used  by  but  one  in  ten  thousand  ? 
Why  these  spiritual  eyes,  if  we  are  never  to  use  them  ? 
Why  these  ears  that  hear  so  little,  and  yet  have  such 
wonderful  capacity  ?  Why  this  ability  to  travel  more 
rapidly  than  light,  if  death  is  to  destroy  it  when  it 
has  so  seldom  been  employed  ?  There  is  a  physical 
body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body  ;  and,  in  the  light  of 
facts,  it  is  most  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  spiritual 
body  will  live  when  the  physical  body  dies. 

I  can  imagine  two  worms  just  folded  in  their  cocoon, 
arguing  the  question  whether  there  is  to  be  any  future 
life  for  them.  "  I  have  an  idea,"  says  one,  "  that  I 
shall  fly  when  I  have  eaten  my  way  out  of  this  case  in 
which  I  am  enclosed."  —  "-  You  fly  I  "  says  the  other : 
'*  that  is  all  nonsense.  You  are  a  worm ;  and  your  life 
has  been  spent  in  crawling  on  the  ground,  for  which 
alone  all  your  faculties  are  fitted.  Whoever  saw  worms 
fly  ?    Worms  we  are,  and  worms  we  must  ever  be,  and 


are  now  shut  up  in  what  must,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
be  our  grave."  —  "  But  what  are  these  wings  for  ?  I 
can  feel  wings  that  are  growing  on  my  sides  ;  and  I  am 
persuaded  that  they  are  to  be  used.  I  shall  fly,  and, 
in  the  summer's  sun  of  another  year,  flit  from  flower 
to  flower,  and  enjoy  the  beauty  of  the  bright  world." 
And  the  hopeful  worm  is  right.  And  we  say,  ''  What 
are  these  spiritual  faculties  for  ?  They  are  our  wings; 
and  there  is  a  realm  where  they  are  to  be  exercised 
during  a  life  that  only  truly  commences  after  what  we 
call  death." 

As  an  evidence  of  this,  let  us  again  refer  to  sleep. 
If  the  spirit  ceases  to  exist  when  the  body  dies,  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  it  will  be  influenced  by  the 
condition  of  the  body  in  life ;  so  that,  when  the  body  is  in 
the  most  unfavorable  condition  for  receiving  knowledge 
through  the  senses,  the  spirit  will  likewise  be  in  an 
equally  unfavorable  condition  for  receiving  knowledge: 
but  if  the  spirit  is  to  survive  death,  and  exercise  its 
powers  when  it  is  separated  from  the  body,  we  may 
reasonably  expect  that  it  will  be  able  to  manifest  these 
^)0wcrs  when  the  ordinary  senses  are  locked  in  sleep ; 
and  this  we  find  to  be  the  case.  Sleep  closes  the  eye 
and  prevents  vision,  contracts  the  brain,  reduces  the 
circulation,  and  deadens  the  general  sensibility :  and  yet 
the  spirit  in  this  condition  can  see  what  the  open  eye 
could  not  perceive  ;  it  reveals  what  it  has  tortured  the 
brain  for  days  in  vain  to  discover ;  it  visits  distant  lands, 
and  beholds  the  succession  of  passing  events  in  which 
the  individual  is  interested,  and  sometimes  even  those 
in  which  he  takes  no  special  interest. 

Dr.  Carpenter  relates,  that  Condorcet   saw  in   his 
dreams  the  final  steps  of  a  difficult  calculation  which 


lU 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


135 


had  puzzled  him  diiruig  the  day  ;  and  Coiidillac  states, 
that,  when  engaged  with  liis  "  Course  of  Study," 
he  frequently  developed  and  finished  a  subject  in  his 
dreams  which  ho  had  broken  off  before  retiring  to  rest. 
Can  it  ho  the  brain  that  does  this  in  sleep,  when  it  has 
been  unable  to  accomplish  it  in  the  waking  state  ?  We 
might  as  well  suppose  a  man  could  run  eight  miles  an 
hour  with  his  feet  shackled,  while  he  could  only  run 
four  when  they  were  free. 

Chambers,  in  an  essay  on  sleep,  says,  "  A  distin- 
guished divine  of  the  present  day,  who  in  his  college- 
days,  was  devoted  to  mathematical  studies,  was  once 
baffled  for  several  days  by  a  diflficult  problem,  which 
he  finally  solved  in  his  sleep."  If  you  say,  all  this, 
however,  the  brain  might  do,  stimulated  into  unusual 
activity  by  the  waking  desires,  there  are  numerous 
eases  that  cannot  bo  so  explained. 

In  '•  Thj  Penny  Encyclopaedia,"  article  "  Dreams," 
1  find  the  following,  "  In  the  night  of  the  11th  of  May, 
1812,  Mr.  Williams  of  Scorrior  House,  near  Redruth 
in  Cornwall,  awoke  his  wife,  and,  exceedingly  agitated, 
told  her  that  he  had  dreamed  that  he  was  in  the  lobby 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  saw  a  man  shoot  with 
a  pistol  a  gentleman  who  had  just  entered  the  lobby, 
who  was  said  to  be  the  chancellor ;  to  which  Mrs.  Wil- 
liams replied,  that  it  was  only  a  dream,  and  recom- 
mended him  to  go  to  sleep  as  soon  as  he  could.  He 
did  so  ;  but,  shortly  after,  he  again  awoke  her,  and  said 
that  he  had  a  second  time  had  the  same  dream.  The 
same  vision  was  repeated  a  third  time;  on  which,  not- 
withstanding his  wife's  entreaties  that  ho  would  lie 
quiet,  and  endeavor  to  forget  it,  he  arose  (then  between 
one  and  two  o'clock)  and  dressed  himself     At  break- 


fast, the  dreams  were  the  sole  subject  of  conversation  ; 
and  in  the  forenoon  Mr.  Williams  went  to  Falmouth, 
where  he  related  the  particulars  of  them  to  all  of  his 
acquaintances  that  he  met.  On  the  following  day,  Mr. 
Tucker  of  Trematon  Castle,  accompanied  by  his  wife, 
(a  daughter  of  Mr.  Williams),  went  to  Scorrior  House 
on  a  visit.  Mr.  Williams  related  to  Mr.  Tucker  the 
circumstance  of  his  dreams  ;  on  which  Mr.  Tucker 
observed,  that  it  would  do  very  well  for  a  dream  to 
have  the  chancellor  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, but  that  he  would  not  be  found  there  in  reality. 
Mr.  Tucker  then  asked  what  sort  of  a  man  he  appeared 
to  be,  when  Mr.  Williams  described  him  minutely. 
Mr.  Tucker  replied,  '  Your  description  is  not  at  all 
that  of  the  chancellor,  but  is  very  exactly  that  of  Mr. 
Perceval,  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer.'  He  then 
inquired  whether  Mr.  Williams  had  ever  seen  Mr.  Per- 
ceval, and  was  told  that  he  had  never  seen  him,  nor 
had  he  ever  had  any  thing  to  do  with  him  ;  and,  further, 
that  he  had  never  been  in  the  House  of  Commons  in 
his  life.  At  this  moment  they  heard  a  horse  gallop  to 
the  door  of  the  house  ;  and  immediately  after  a  son 
of  Mr.  Williams  entered  the  room,  and  said  that  he  had 
galloped  out  from  Truro,  having  seen  a  gentleman 
there  who  had  come  by  that  evening's  mail  from  town, 
and  who  had  been  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons on  the  evening  of  the  11th,  when  a  man  called 
Uellingham  had  shot  Mr.  Perceval  (the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer).  After  the  astonishment  which  this  in- 
telligence created  had  a  little  subsided,  Mr.  Williams 
described  most  minutely  the  appearance  and  dress  of 
the  man  that  he  saw  in  his  dream  fire  the  pistol  at 
the  chancellor,  as  also  of  the  chancellor.     About  six 


^^11  [ 


136 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


137 


weeks  after,  Mr.  Williams,  having  business  in  town, 
went,  accompanied  by  a  friend,  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, where,  as  has  been  already  observed,  he  had 
never  before  been.  Immediately  that  he  came  to  the 
steps  at  the  entrance  of  the  lobby,  he  said,  '  Tliis  place 
is  as  distinctly  within  my  recollection  as  any  room  in 
my  house ; '  and  he  made  the  same  observation  when  he 
entered  the  lobby.  He  then  pointed  out  the  exact 
spot  where  Bellingham  stood  when  he  fired,  and  which 
Mr.  Perceval  had  reached  when  he  was  struck  by  the 
ball  when  he  fell.  The  dress  both  of  Mr.  Perceval  and 
Bellingham  agreed  with  the  description  given  by  Mr. 
Williams,  even  to  the  minutest  particulars.  The  dream 
is  related  by  Dr.  Abercrombie  with  some  additional 
circumstances." 

Mr.  Williams  obtained  in  sleep  knowledge,  that,  even 
in  the  waking  state,  he  could  not  have  obtained ;  and 
sleep,  instead  of  diminishing  the  spirit's  power,  vastly 
increased  it,  showing  its  independence  of  the  body's 
condition. 

"  A  respected  correspondent  of  Mr.  F.,"  says  Cham- 
bers in  Ins  "  Essay  on  Dreams,"  ''  was  a  man  of  exem- 
plary piety  and  the  strictest  veracity.  He  was  in  the 
East-India  Company's  service,  and,  having  served  one 
and  twenty  years,  was  about  to  return  to  his  native 
country  on  leave  of  absence  for  three  years.  Some 
nights  before  Jiis  departure  from  Calcutta,  he  had  a 
dream  that  his  father  died.  It  was  so  vivid,  and  so  mi- 
nutely circumstantial,  that  it  made  a  very  deep  impres 
sion  on  him  ;  and  he  entered  all  the  particulars  and 
the  date  into  his  pocket-book.  In  about  six  months 
after,  on  his  arrival  in  London,  he  found  letters  from 
Ireland,  where  his  family  resided,  waiting  for  him. 


They  announced  the  death  of  his  father,  which  had 
occurred  on  the  very  night  of  his  dream.  This  was  so 
singular,  that,  when  he  joined  his  sister  a  few  days 
after,  he  desired  her  to  enter  into  no  particulars  rela- 
tive to  his  father's  death  till  she  should  hear  him. 
'  Sarah,'  said  he,  '  I  believe  that  my  father  did  not  die 
in  his  own  room:  his  bed  was  in  the  parlor.' — 'It 
was,  it  was,  indeed,'  replied  she :  '  he  had  it  brought 
down  a  short  time  after  he  was  taken  ill,  to  save  him 
the  fatigue  of  going  up  and  down  stairs.'  — '  I  will 
show  you  the  spot  where  it  was  placed,'  said  Capt.  F. 
He  immediately  pointed  out  the  situation  of  the  bed, 
exactly  where  it  had  been.  He  showed  where  the 
coffin  had  been  laid.  There  was  nothing  coni>ected  with 
the  melancholy  event  which  he  could  not  detail  as  mi- 
nutely as  those  who  had  actually  been  present.  Strange 
as  all  this  may  appear,  it  is  nevertheless  perfectly  true. 
I  have  frequently  heard  it  from  Capt.  F.  himself,  and 
from  his  wife  and  sister." 

Tiie  Pacific  Hotel  in  St.  Louis  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  February,  1858,  and  twenty-one  lives  were  lost.  On 
the  night  of  the  fire,  a  little  brother  of  Mr.  Henry 
Rochester,  living  at  home  with  his  parents,  near  Avon, 
N.Y.,  awoke  some  time  after  midnight  with  screaming 
and  tears,  saying  that  the  hotel  in  St.  Louis  was  on 
fire,  and  that  his  brother  Henry  was  burning  to  death. 
At  noon  on  the  following  day,  his  parents  received  a  tel- 
egram from  St.  Louis  confirming  his  dream  in  every 

particular.* 

There  is  no  evidence  that  these  individuals  possessed 
any  clairvoyant  power  in  their  waking  state ;  but,  as 
the  bodily  eye  closes,  the  spiritual  eye  opens,  and  when 

•  Plancbette;  or,  The  Despair  of  Science,  p.  168. 


Ji 


138 


13  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS   SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


130 


^l,i 


the  brain  and  senses  are  in  an  eminently  unfavorable 
condition  for  obtaining  knowledge,  then  knowledge  of 
even  distant  events  is  easily  and  readily  obtained  by 
the  spirit. 

In  death-trance,  when  even  the  circulation  is  stopped, 
and  respiration  can  no  longer  be  perceived,  when  the 
pallor  of  death  overspreads  the  countenance,  and  death 
itself  is  so  well  counterfeited  that  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other,  the  spirit  asserts 
its  superiority  and  independence ;  it  hears,  sees,  feels, 
and  obtains  knowledge,  that,  out  of  this  trance-state, 
the  individual  is  unable  to  obtain. 

In  "  The  American  Phrenological  Journal,"  I  find 
the  following.  "  A  daughter  of  Mr.  Hangloy  of  Bangor, 
seven  years  of  age,  was  taken  sick  of  cholera,  and,  to 
all  appearance,  died,  but  in  a  few  hours  stretched  forth 
her  arms,  and  exclaimed,  '  0  father !  I  have  been  to 
heaven,  and  it  is  a  beautiful  place.'  She  stated  that 
she  saw  her  mother  there,  who  had  died  but  a  few  days 
before,  and  she  was  taking  care  of  little  children, 
among  whom,  she  said,  were  '  four  children  of  Uncle 
Hangley,  and  three  children  of  Uncle  Casey.'  — '  But,' 
said  an  older  sister,  *  it  cannot  be  so  ;  for  there  are  but 
two  of  Uncle  Casey's  children  dead.'  —  *  Yes,'  she  re- 
plied, '  I  saw  three  of  them  in  heaven.  All  were  dressed 
in  white,  and  all  were  very  happy,  and  the  children 
playing.'  Shortly  after,  a  message  came  from  Mr.  Casey 
in  Carmel,  giving  information  of  the  death  of  another 
child,  and  inviting  them  to  attend  the  funeral." 

The  spirit's  powers  are  not  weakened  by  sleep  nor 
death-trance,  but  vastly  increased  ;  just  what  we 
should  expect  if  the  spirit  is  to  survive  death,  but  al- 
together inexplicable  if  death  is  to  extinguish  us. 


What  effect  has  the  approach  of  death  itself?  In 
drowning,  when  the  thread  of  life  has  been  all  but 
severed,  and  with  the  greatest  difficulty  animation  has 
been  restored  to  the  apparently  lifeless  body,  it  is  well 
known  that  the  activity  of  tlie  spirit  has  been  by  no 
means  decreased,  but  often  vastly  increased. 

From  a  letter  by  P.  Beaufort  to  Dr.  W.  Hyde,  pub- 
lished in  '*  The  American  Phrenological  Journal,"  I  ex- 
tract the  following.  He  fell  into  the  water,  and  says, 
'*Prom  the  moment  that  all  exertion  had  ceased,  which, 
I  imagine,  was  the  immediate  consequence  of  complete 
suffocation,  a  calm  feeling  of  the  most  perfect  tranquilli- 
ty superseded  the  previous  tumultuous  sensations :  it 
might  be  called  apathy,  certainly  not  resignation  ;  for 
drowning  no  longer  appeared  to  be  an  evil.  I  no 
longer  thought  of  being  rescued  ;  nor  was  I  in  any 
bodily  pain.  The  senses  were  deadened ;  but  not  so 
the  mind.  Its  activity  seemed  to  be  invigorated  in  a 
ratio  which  dciies  all  description ;  for  thought  rose  after 
thought  with  a  rapidity  of  succession  that  is  not  only 
indescribable,  but  probably  inconceivable  by  any  one 
who  has  not  been  himself  in  a  similar  situation.  .  .  . 
Travelling  backward,  every  past  incident  of  my  life 
seemed  to  glance  at  my  recollection  in  retrograde  suc- 
cession ;  not,  however,  in  mere  outline,  as  here  stated, 
but  the  picture  filled  up  with  every  minute  and  col- 
lateral feature :  in  short,  the  whole  period  of  my  exist- 
ence seemed  to  be  placed  before  me  in  a  kind  of  pano- 
ramic review,  and  each  act  of  it  seemed  to  be  accom- 
panied by  a  consciousness  of  right  or  wrong,  or  by 
some  reflection  on  its  cause  or  consequences  ;  indeed, 
many  trifling  events  that  had  long  been  forgotten  then 


t 

It 


140 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


141 


crowded  into  my  imagination,  and  with  the  character 
of  recen^  familiarity." 

Could  the  man's  body  have  been  examined  while 
this  was  going  on,  the  surface  would  have  been  found 
cold,  the  whole  of  the  arterial  blood  converted  into 
black  venous  blood,  and  this  distending  the  heart,  the 
lungs,  and  the  brain,  rendering  the  whole  physical  man 
as  unfit  for  action  as  a  locomotive  with  the  fire  out, 
and  the  water  in  the  boiler  changed  to  ice.  If  we 
found  a  locomotive  going  at  the  rate  of  a  thousand 
miles  an  hour  under  such  circumstances,  we  should 
conclude  that  it  ran  by  some  other  motive-power  than 
steam.  What  remembered,  thought,  imagined,  when 
the  body  was  in  this  condition  ?  That  which  will  re- 
member, think,  and  imagine  when  the  body  has  re- 
turned to  dust. 

As  an  evidence  of  this  extraordinary  memory  in 
drowning,  I  present  the  following,  taken  from  "  The 
Rome  Daily  Sentinel."  A  held  a  bond  of  B  for  sev- 
eral hundred  dollars,  having  some  time  to  run.  At  its 
maturity,  he  found  that  he  had  put  it  away  so  care- 
fully that  he  could  not  find  it.  Ho  called  on  B,  re- 
lated the  circumstance,  and  proposed  to  give  him  a 
receipt ;  but  B  denied  owing  him  any  thing,  and  inti- 
mated that  A  wished  to  cheat  him.  Several  years 
passed,  when  A,  bathing  in  Charles  River,  sunk,  and 
was  completely  unconscious  before  he  was  rescued. 
"  On  the  first  return  of  strength  to  walk,  ho  left  his 
bed,  went  to  his  book-case,  took  out  a  book,  opened  it, 
and  handed  his  long-lost  bond  to  a  friend  who  was  pres- 
ent. He  then  informed  him,  that  when  drowning  and 
sinking,  as  ho  supposed,  to  "rise  no  more,  in  a  moment 
there  stood  out  distinctly  before  him  as  a  picture  every 


act  of  his  life,  from  the  hour  of  childhood  to  the  hour 
of  sinking  beneath  the  water ;  and  among  them  the 
circumstance  of  putting  the  bond  in  the  book,  the 
book  itself,  and  the  place  in  which  he  had  put  it  in 
the  book-case." 

The  spirit  apparently  forgets  nothing,  and  when  re- 
leased from  the  body  all  our  past  is  present  to  us,  — 
ours  forever. 

How  exceedingly  common  it  is  for  the  dying  to  see 
and  hear  what  those  present  are  utterly  unconscious 
of!  It  is  easy  to  say  that  they  are  idle  fancies  cluster- 
ing around  the  dying  man,  that  reason  is  too  weak  to 
dispel.  They  should  at  least  be  in  harmony  with  his 
previous  ideas  if  this  theory  of  their  origin  be  granted. 

A  Methodist  minister,  Purcell  P.  Hamilton  of  Litch- 
field, 111.,  near  the  close  of  a  lingering  illness,  was  en- 
tranced. His  friends  thought  him  gone  ;  but  he  unex- 
pectedly revived,  and  said  to  his  wife,  "  I  have  not  left 
you  yet.  I  have  been  to  see  my  heavenly  home  ;  but 
they  told  me  I  could  not  go  until  I  came  back  and 
told  you  that  the  teachings  of  all  these  years  from  my 
pulpit  are  false.  Our  ideas  of  heaven  are  all  wrong. 
I  have  taught  and  thought  we  would  die  and  go 
straight  to  God  and  glory.  All  wrong.  Tell  all  you 
meet  my  last  words  to  them,  —  all  wrong.  The  spirit- 
home  is  a  beautiful  land  ;  but  we  must  go  up  step  by 
step,  and  work  out  our  own  salvation." 

It  is  so  common  for  the  dying  to  be  clairvoyant,  that, 
in  every  age,  it  has  been  noticed  by  the  intelligent. 
Plutarch  says  in  reference  to  it,  "  It  is  not  probable, 
that,  in  death,  the  soul  gains  new  powers  which  it 
was  not  before  possessed  of  when  the  heart  was  con- 
fined with  the  chains  of  the  body :  but  it  is  much  more 


142 


19  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


probable  that  these  powers  were  always  in  beuig,t1iough 
dimmed  and  clogged  by  tlio  body  ;  and  the  soul  is  only 
then  able  to  practise  them  when  the  corporeal  bonds 
are  loosened,  and  the  drooping  limbs  and  stagnant 
juices  no  longer  oppress  it." 

Schiller's  last  words  when  dying  were, ''  Many  things 
are  growing  plain  and  clear  to  me."  Is  this  the  talk 
of  an  expiring  soul  going  down  to  the  grave  to  come 
up  no  more,  the  night  of  annihilation  closing  around 
it  ?  It  is  the  joyous  exclamation  of  one  long  living  in 
obscurity,  who  for  the  first  time  Hnds  the  windows  ajar, 
and  the  light  of  a  deathless  morn  looking  in.  Wo 
dwell  in  the  twilight,  and  we  pine  for  the  glory  of  a 
day  that  must  shine. 

So  far,  then,  from  the  approach  of  death  weakening 
the  soul  as  it  does  the  body,  and  thus  rendering  prob- 
able its  dissolution  with  the  body,  it  develops  its  pecu- 
liar powers,  and  prepares  the  way  for  their  manifesta- 
tion, and  thus  gives  us  the  assurance,  that,  when  it  is 
consummated,  the  spirit  will  be  free  to  exercise  those 
faculties  untrammelled,  which  are  manifested  here  in 
their  greatest  strength  when  the  body  is  most  weak. 

If  the  spirit  exists  after  death,  what  can  be  more 
reasonable  than  that  it  should  desire  to  communicate 
with  its  friends  still  in  the  body  ?  Can  tho  mother 
forget  the  family  from  which  death  has  torn  her  ?  tho 
patriot  the  country  for  which  his  life  has  been  spent  ? 
the  youth  the  home  around  which  all  his  associations 
are  clustered  ?  If  the  emigrant  thinks  of  his  country 
over  the  sea,  and  sends  messages  to  those  whom  he  never 
again  expects  to  see,  how  much  more  shall  those  who 
have  gone  to  tho  land  of  souls  remember  the  loved 
ones  remaining,  and  desire  to  give  them  tidings  of 
their  welfare  ! 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


143 


Can  it  bo  done  ?  Dr.  Gregory  says,  "  I  can  vouch 
for  this  fact,  —  that  a  magnetizer  can  strongly  affect  a 
person  who  is  not  only  in  another  room,  or  another 
house,  or  many  hundred  yards  off,  but  who  is  utterly 
unaware  that  any  thing  is  to  be  done." 

Dr.  Poissac  magnetized  Paul  Villagrand  at  the  dis- 
tance of  three  hundred  miles.  The  doctor  gave  a  note 
to  his  father,  which  he  desired  him  to  hand  to  Paul  at 
half-past  five,  P.M.  It  read  thus,  "  I  am  magnetizing 
you  at  this  moment :  I  will  awake  you  when  you  have 
had  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  sleep."  But  the  father,  to 
make  the  experiment  decisive,  never  gave  the  letter  to 
his  son.  "Nevertheless,  at  ten  minutes  before  six, 
Paul,  being  in  the  midst  of  his  family,  experienced  a 
sensation  of  heat,  and  considerable  uneasiness.  His 
shirt  was  wet  through  with  perspiration  ;  he  wished  to 
retire  to  his  room :  but  they  detained  him.  In  a  few 
minutes,  he  was  entranced.  In  this  state,  he  astonished 
the  persons  present,  by  reading,  with  his  eyes  shut,  sev- 
eral lines  of  a  book  taken  at  hazard  from  the  library, 
and  by  telling  the  hour  upon  a  watch  they  held  to  him. 
He  awoke  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour." 

If  tho  spirit  while  in  the  body  can  influence  the 
spirits  of  othefs  in  the  body,  at  a  distance  of  hundreds 
of  miles,  it  is  surely  not  unreasonable  to  suppose,  that, 
when  the  spirit  has  dropped  the  body,  it  can  still  influ- 
ence them,  and  thus  reveal  its  existence.  Besides  this, 
we  have  abundant  evidence  that  the  spirit  does  com- 
municate with  the  living,  thus  establishing  the  third 
fundamental  principle  of  Spiritualism. 

On  this  subject  we  have  the  testimony  of  all  ages. 
The  sacred  books  of  the  Jews  and  Christians  contain 
Buch  accounts ,  and,  although  the  fabulous  character  of 


144 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


145 


portions  of  the  Bible  leads  to  suspicion  of  all  its  mar- 
vellous statements,  yet  many  of  its  accounts  of  spirit- 
ual manifestations  are  in  harmony  with  those  of  other 
peoples  and  all  time. 

It  is  noticeable,  that,  as  people  have  become  more 
intelligent,  spiritual  manifestations  have  increased  iu 
the  same  proportion.  As  chemistry  became  estab- 
lished, alchemy  died  out;  as  astronomy  advanced,  as- 
trology retreated,  and  hides  to-day  only  in  the  obscur- 
est corners :  but  as  a  knowledge  of  man's  true  nature 
increases,  so  do  the  evidences  of  communication  be- 
tween the  spirit-world  and  our  own  multiply  around 
us.  In  the  early  history  of  the  Jews,  we  find  but  few 
of  them ;  they  were  more  common  in  the  time  of  Jesus 
and  his  immediate  followers,  and  are  most  common  in 
this  the  most  intelligent  age  the  world  has  seen. 
.  In  bringing  forward  testimony  on  this  subject,  the 
only  difficulty  is  to  choose  out  of  tlie  abundance  pre- 
sented. Do  we  desire  the  testimony  of  a  scientific 
man,  let  us  take  that  of  Prof.  Hare,  the  well-known 
chemist,  who  at  one  time  maintained  most  earnestly 
the  mechanical  theory  of  Faraday,  but  abandoned  it 
in  consequence  of  the  experiments  undertaken  to 
demonstrate  it.  He  visited  a  medium,  through  whom 
communications  were  received  by  the  tipping  of  a 
table.  The  alphabet  was  placed  upon  a  table,  and, 
when  a  pencil  held  by  a  gentleman  at  the  foot  of  the 
table  passed  over  it,  the  table  tipped  when  the  right 
letter  was  indicated.  In  this  way,  this  message  was 
spelled  out,  '* Light  is  dawning  on  the  mind  of  your 
friend  ;  soon  ho  will  speak  trumpet-tongued  to  tiie  sci- 
entific world,  and  add  a  new  link  to  that  chain  of  evi- 
dence on  which  our  hope  of  man's  salvation  is  founded." 


This  appeared  to  him  almost  unaccountable ;  but  he 
was  resolved  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  deception. 
He  made  a  disk  of  pasteboard  about  a  foot  in  diameter, 
around  which  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  were  placed 
as  much  as  possible  out  of  their  regular  order.     The 
disk  was  made  to  revolve  upon  an  axis  by  a  string 
which  passed  over  a  groove  in  the  hub  of  the  wheel ; 
a  weight  being  attached  to  each  end  of  the  string,  —  a 
large  one  on  the  ground,  and  a  smaller  suspended  on 
the  other  side  of  the  wheel.     The  medium  was  seated 
at  the  table  with  a  screen  between  her  eyes  and  the 
disk.     The  table  was  tilted,  and  thus  the  disk,  which 
was  on  the  axle  attached  to  it,  was  made  to  revolve, 
and  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  were  brought  under  a 
stationary  index  before  it.     Prof.  Hare  sat  in  front  of 
it,  and  said, "  If  there  be  a  spirit  present,  let  the  letter 
y  be  brought  under  the  index."     The  disk  revolved 
to  the  letter  y.     But  I  will  let  him  tell  the  story  in 
his  own  words.    " '  Will  the  spirit  be  so  kind  as  to  give 
his  initials  ?'   It  revolved  immediately  to  R.  and  to  H. 
'  What,'  said  I,  *  my  father  ?  *    It  revolved  again  to  the 
letter  y,  indicating  the  affirmative.    '  Will  you  arrange 
these  letters  in  alphabetical  order  ?  '     The  disk  again 
moved  ;  and  tho  letters  were  arranged  as  requested. 
'  Will  you  now  spell  the  name  of  Washington  ?  '     It 
was  spelled.    '  Now,'  said  a  bystander, '  you  must  give 
up.     You  made  this  instrument  to  disprove  Spiritual- 
ism, and  you  see  it  confirms  it.'     I  remarked  that  this 
was  the  most  important  experiment  which  I  had  ever 
performed,  if  viewed  as  proving  that  the  shade  of  my 
honored  father  was  there.     I  said* '  You  must  allow 
me  time  to  deliberate,  and  to  repeat  tho  experiment, 
before  ultimately  deciding.' " 

10 


■% 


146 


IS   SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


147 


Subsequently  ho  obtaiued  analogous  results  by  an- 
other medium,  who  had  not  previously  seen  his  appa- 
ratus, and  whom  he  liad  never  seen  before. 

It  was  suggested  that  the  medium  might  be  clair- 
voyant, and  thus  see  through  the  disk.  To  obviate  this 
objection.  Prof.  Hare  procured  a  brass  ball,  something 
like  a  billiard-ball,  and  placed  upon  it  a  smooth  plate 
of  metal  on  which  the  hands  of  the  medium  rested,  so 
that  she  could  not  possibly  control  the  movements  of 
the  table.  His  father  communicating  with  him  under 
these  circumstances,  the  name  of  an  uncle  of  his,  who 
was  killed  by  the  Arabs  seventy  years  ago,  was  spelled 
out.  "  Also  the  name  of  a  partner  wlio  came  out  and 
took  care  of  his  affairs  during  the  Revolution,"  nobody 
present  knowing  the  name  but  himself.  Then  the 
names  of  some  English  relatives  were  given,  the  name 
of  an  aunt  who  died  forty  years  ago,  and  the  name  of 
his  English  grandfather's  partner.  Cards  were  held 
up;  and  the  spirits  accurately  described  them  when 
neither  the  medium  nor  himself  knew  what  they  were. 
Sitting  witli  a  medium  who  was  not  a  Latin  scholar, 
he  asked  his  father  to  point  out  the  words  in  Virgil 
which  he  admired  as  describing  the  beating  which 
Entellus  gave  Dares ;  and  he  spelled  out  the  words, 
^^  puUatque  verBatqaey 

No  wonder  that  Prof.  Hare  became  a  Spiritualist, 
and  announced  it  to  the  world,  after  such  demonstra- 
tive tests  as  these ;  and  so,  I  think,  would  every  other 
scientist,  had  he  an  equal  determination  to  know  the 
truth,  and  as  much  courage  to  avow  it. 

Do  we  desire  tho  testimony  of  a  literary  man,  here  is 
that  of  William  Howitt,  whose  reputation  is  world- 
wide. 


"  More  than  six  years  ago,  T  began  to  examine  the 
phenomena  of  Spiritualism.  I  did  not  go  to  paid  or  even 
to  public  mediums.  I  sat  down  at  my  own  table  with 
members  of  my  own  family,  or  with  friends,  —  persons 
of  high  character,  and  serious  as  myself  in  the  inquiry. 
I  saw  tables  moved,  rocked  to  and  fro,  and  raised  re- 
peatedly into  the  air.  I  heard  the  raps,  sometimes  a 
hundred  at  once,  in  every  imaginable  part  of  the  table, 
in  all  keys,  and  of  various  degrees  of  loudness.  I  ex- 
amined the  phenomena  thoroughly.  Silly  but  playful 
spirits  came  frequently.  I  heard  accordions  play  won- 
derful music  as  they  were  held  in  one  hand,  often  by  a 
person  who  could  not  play  at  all.  I  heard  and  saw 
hand-bells  carried  about  the  room  in  the  air  ;  put  first 
into  one  person's  hand,  and  then  into  another's;  taken 
away  again  by  a  strong  pull,  though  you  could  not  see 
the  hand  touching  them.  ...  As  for  communications 
professedly  from  spirits,  they  were  of  daily  occurrence, 
and  often  wonderful.  Our  previous  theological  opin- 
ions were  resisted  and  condemned  when  I  and  my  wife 

were  alone. 

"  I  have  seen  spirit-hands  moving  about ;  I  have  felt 
them  again  and  again.  I  have  seen  writing  done  by 
spirits,  by  laying  a  pencil  and  paper  in  the  middle  of 
the  floor,  and  very  good  sense  written  too. 

"  1  could  give  you  a  whole  volume  of  the  remarka- 
ble and  even  startling  revelations  made  by  our  own  de- 
parted friends  at  our  own  evening  table ;  those  friends 
coming  at  wholly  unexpected  times,  and  bringing  mes- 
sages of  the  most  vital  importance  ;  carrying  them  on 
from  period  to  period,  sometimes  at  intervals  of  years, 
into  a  perfect  history.  But  these  things  are  too  sacred 
for  the  public  eye." 


.:tsl 


148 


18  SPIRITUALISM  TUUE? 


11 


The  testimony  of  Dr.  Ashbunier,  a  well-known  Lon- 
don physician,  is  very  satisfactory.  "  I  have  myself 
so  often  witnessed  spiritual  manifestations,  that  I  could 
not,  if  I  were  inclined,  put  aside  the  evidences  which 
have  come  before  me.  When  Mr.  Charles  Foster  was 
in  London  in  18G3,  he  was  often  in  my  house ;  and 
numerous  friends  had  opportunities  of  witnessing  the 
phenomena  which  occurred  in  his  presence.  The  sec- 
ond morning  that  he  called  on  me  was  about  two  weeks 
after  his  arrival  in  England.  Accidentally,  at  the  same 
time  arrived  at  my  door,  Lady  C.  11.  and  her  aunt,  wife 
of  the  Rev.  A.  E.  I  urged  them  to  come  in,  and 
placed  them  on  chairs  at  the  sides  of  my  dining-table. 
Their  names  had  not  been  mentioned  ;  Mr.  Foster  hav- 
ing retired  to  the  farther  extremity  of  the  room,  so  as 
not  to  be  able  to  see  what  the  ladies  wrote,  I  induced 
them  each  to  write,  upon  separate  slips  of  paper,  six 
names  of  friends  who  had  departed  this  world.  These 
they  folded  into  pellets,  which  were  placed  together. 

"  Mr.  Foster,  coming  back  to  the  table,  immediately 
picked  up  a  pellet,  and  addressing  himself  to  Mrs.  A.  E., 
'  Alice,'  he  said,  which  made  the  lady  start,  and  ask 
how  he  knew  her  name.  He  replied,  *  Your  cousin, 
John  Whitney,  whose  name  you  wrote  in  that  little 
piece  of  paper,  stands  by  your  side,  and  desires  me  to 
say,  that  he  often  watches  over  you,  and  reads  your 
thoughts,  which  are  always  pure  and  good.  He  is  de- 
lighted at  the  tenderness  and  care  which  you  exhibit 
in  the  education  of  your  children.'  Then  he  turned 
towards  me,  and  said,  '  Alice's  uncle  is  smiling  benig- 
nantly  as  he  is  looking  towards  you.  Ho  says  you 
and  he  were  very  intimate  friends.'  I  said, '  I  should 
like  to  know  the  name  of  my  friend ; '  and  Mr.  Foster 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


149 


instantly  replied, '  Gaven.    His  Christian  name  will 
appear  on  my  right  arm.' 

"  The  arm  was  bared ;  and  there  appeared  in  red 
letters,  fully  one  inch  and  a  quarter  long,  the  name 
William,  raised  on  the  skin  of  his  arm.  Certainly, 
William  Gaven  was  my  dear  old  friend,  and  the  uncle 
of  the  lady  whose  name  is  Alice. 

"Mr.  Foster  next  addressed  himself  to  Lady  C, 
whom  he  had  never  seen  before   in  his  life.     '  Your 

mother,'  said  lie, '  the  Marchioness  of ,  stands  by 

your  side,*and  desires  to  give  you  her  fond  blessing 
and  very  affectionate  love.'  He  added, '  Lady  C,  you 
wrote  on  a  piece  of  paper  I  hold  here  tlie  name  of 
Miss  Stuart.  She  stands  by  the  side  of  your  mother, 
and  is  beaming  with  delight  at  the  sight  of  her  pupil. 
She  was  your  governess,  and  was  much  attached  to 
you.'  He  added, '  That  charming  person,  the  mar- 
chioness, was  a  great  friend  of  the  doctor's.  She  is  so 
pleased  to  find  you  all  here  !  Her  Christian  name  is 
to  appear  on  my  arm. '  Mr.  Foster  drew  up  his  sleeve, 
and  there  appeared  in  raised,  red  letters  on  the  skin, 
the  name  Barbara."  Dr.  Ashburner  adds,  "  Here  were 
cases  in  which  it  was  quite  impossible  that  the  medium 
could  have  known  any  single  fact  relating  to  the  fami- 
lies, or  to  the  intimacies,  of  any  of  the  persons  present. 
I  had  myself  formed  his  acquaintance  only  two  days 
before  ;  and  the  ladies  had  arrived  from  a  part  of  the 
country  with  which  he  could  not  possibly  be  ac- 
quainted." 

If  it  is  said  that  this  might  be  accomplished  by 
mind-reading,  then  the  question  arises,  How  does  it 
happen  that  the  medium  has  no  knowledge  of  this  ? 
Can  this,  the  most  wonderful  of  all  powers,  be  oxor- 


I 


'4 


150 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE  V 


cised  unconsciously  ?  And  why  are  such  manifesta- 
tions invariably  attributed  to  spirits  by  the  manifesta- 
tions themselves  ?  Do  mediums  not  only  unconscious- 
ly read  mind,  move  physical  bodies,  and  write  mes- 
sages, but  at  the  same  time  unconsciously  lie  regard- 
ing the  cause  of  these  varied  phenomena  ? 

My  own  spiritual  experience  has  been  much  like  that 
of  William  Howitt.      I  commenced  the  investigation 
of  Spiritualism  at  home,  with  the  members  of  our  own 
family;  when  we  had  raps,  movement  of  tables,  and, 
by  these  means,  communications  from  unseen  intelli- 
gences professing  to  be  our  departed  friends,  and  giv- 
ing us  satisfactory  evidence  of  this.     After  this,  I  saw 
remarkable  physical  manifestations  through  mediums 
in  Ohio,  Indiana,  New  York,  and  Canada,—  such  as  the 
elevation  of  heavy  tables  and  other  bodies  when  no 
person  was  in  contact  with  them,  the  rooms  in  which 
these  took  place  being  at  the  time  well  lighted.    I  have 
seen  hands  repeatedly,  and  felt  them  still  more  often, 
when  the  hands  of  the  only  person  in  the  room  beside 
myself  lay  upon  the  table  before  me  ;    and  this  fre- 
quently in  the  broad  daylight  also.     I  have  induced 
spirits  to  make  for  me  impressions  of  their  hands  on 
plastic  substances,  such  as  putty  and  clay,  and  to  draw 
their  outlines  with  pencil  on  paper,  which  they  have 
done  repeatedly  in  my  presence  in  a  well-lighted  room. 
On  one  occasion,  I  received  in  this  way  the  outline  of 
a  hand  larger  than  I  ever  saw ;  when  the  only  person 
present  beside  myself  was  a  lady  of  average  size,  and 
both  her  hands  at  the  time  were  on  the  table  before 
me. 

I  have  frequently  received  communications  in  writ- 
ing both  on  slate  and  paper;  and  in  all  cases  this  took' 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


151 


place  in  the  daytime,  or  in  a  lighted  room,  and  under 
circumstances  that  rendered  it  utterly  impossible  for 
any  person  in  the  body  to  produce  them.  1  desire  no 
more  evidence  than  I  have  had  on  this  subject ;  for  it 
leaves  no  room  for  question  or  doubt. 

Those  who  can  be  satisfied  by  testimony  upon  this 
subject  may  certainly  obtain  all  that  is  needed.  If 
they  desire  personal  experience,  they  need  not  gp  far  to 
obtain  that  also,  and  know  for  themselves  that  Spiritual- 
ism is  true,  and  rejoice  in  a  knowledge  of  the  most 
glorious  gospel  that  was  ever  preached  to  mankind. 

Our  graveyards  arc  not  the  dwelling-places  of  the 
departed  ;  nor  are  their  coffins  the  bedrooms  in  which 
they  are  to  sleep  till  a  trumpet-blast  shall  wake  the 
dust,  and  call  it  forth  to  life  again.  There  we  lay 
away  the  shards,  the  cast-off  cases  of  humanity,  while 
the  friends  we  mourn  are  sadly  smiling  at  our  sorrow, 
and  longing  to  enlighten  us,  and  bear  up  the  load  that 
presses  the  mourner's  spirit  down. 

What  we  call  death  is  but  an  epoch  in  the  soul's 
history.     Life  here  is  the  first  act  in  the  great  drama 
of  existence ;  and  the  curtain  only  falls  to  rise  again, 
and  show  us  a  fairer  scene,  and  introduce  us  to  a  better 
life.     We  mourn  not  the  departure  of  our  friends  as 
those  who  are  agonized  with  doubt  as  to  whether  they 
have  gone  to  a  heaven  of  pious  bliss  or  a  hell  of  abys- 
mal despair ;  nor  do  we  mourn  as  those  who  believe 
they  are  asleep,  and  that  only  a  miracle  can  awake 
them.     There  is  no  gulf  between  us  and  them,  that 
needs  to  be  bridged ;  no  wall  that  needs  to  be  scaled  ;  no 
vigilant  gate-keepers  to  be  eluded.      In  sorrow  they 
are  near  to  cheer  us,  in  danger  to  warn,  in  temptation 
to  strengthen.     No  selfish  enjoyment  eclipses  their 


152 


13  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


13  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE? 


153 


love  or  weakens  their  affection,  and  as  surely  as  we 
part  we  shall  meet  again. 

Tell  it  to  the  ocean,  and  let  his  deep  voice  repeat  it 
to  the  thousand  islands  that  lie  upon  his  broad  breast ; 
tell  it  to  the  winds,  and  let  its  glad  tidings  be  carried 
on  their  wings  over  the  wide  continents,  and  let  earth's 
millions  join  in  one  grand  hymn  of  praise. 

Let  t)|e  mourner's  tears  be  dried,  and  bid  the  orphan 
smile  :  death  is  no  longer  man's  enemy  ;  by  the  angel 
of  Spiritualism  he  swears  eternal  friendship  to  man- 
kind. 

Do  I,  then,  indorse  all  that  professes  to  come  from 
the  spirit-world  ?  By  no  means.  Some  things  attrib- 
uted to  this  source  are  doubtless  produced  by  fraud  ; 
though  by  no  means  as  much  as  some  would  have  us 
believe.  The  charge  of  fraud  has  been  made  against 
some  of  the  best  people  that  ever  lived ;  and  some  timid 
ones  have  been  broken  down  by  it,  who  were  as  true 
and  pure  as  Nature  herself.  Some  plienomena  at- 
tributed to  spirits  outside  of  the  body  are  in  reality 
produced  by  spirits  still  remaining  in  the  body.  These 
spirits,  that  are  to  do  such  wonderful  things  when  they 
have  left  the  body,  possess  the  power,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, now,  and  frequently  exercise  it ;  and  multitudes 
innocently,  because  ignorantly,  attribute  to  spirits  what 
lias  no  other  source  than  themselves,  it  may  be,  in  a 
peculiar  condition. 

Nor  do  I  indorse  as  good  or  true  all  that  in  reality 
comes  from  the  spirit-world.  We  are  spirits  incased 
in  clay :  they  are  spirits  who  have  dropped  the  case, 
but,  in  other  respects,  are  identically  the  same.  Every 
second  a  human  being  becomes  a  spirit;  and  the  spirit- 
world  cannot  but  abound  with  ignorant,  vicious,  un- 


\ 


developed  spirits.  Shall  we  submit  to  their  dictation  ? 
Shall  we  give  ourselves  up  to  their  influence  r(^gardless 
of  their  character?  The  consequences  might  be,  as 
they  have  frequently  been,  most  disastrous.  We  must 
stand  by  our  own  sense  of  what  is  true,  right,  and 
pure,  and  never  move  a  step  without  good  reason. 

Prove  to  us  that  you  are  in  communication  with 
Franklin,  Channing,  Parker,  George  Fox,  or  Jesus, 
what  then  ?  We  must  still  take  what  tlicy  say  for 
what  it  seems  to  us  to  be  worth  when  weighed  in  the 
scale  of  our  judgment ;  for,  if  God  spoke,  we  could  do 
no  other.  Herein  differs  modern  from  ancient  Spirit-  , 
ualism.  Ancient  Spiritualism —  that  which  the  Chris- 
tian Church  believes  in  and  indorses  to-day  —  overpow- 
ers the  individual  soul,  robs  it  of  its  heritage,  sets  a 
master  over  it  who  graciously  permits  it  to  echo  his 
voice.  But  we  have  learned  that  a  man's  soul  is  to 
him  the  highest  tribunal  in  the  universe ;  l)y  that  he 
must  stand  first,  last,  and  always.  All  revelations 
must  appeal  to  that,  and  nothing  be  accepted  that  it 
rejects;  each  for  himself,  making  daily  the  heaven 
that  In  desires,  and  bearing  it  with  him  to  the  land  of 
souls,  whither  Time  bears  us  with  rapid  strides. 


I 


ORTHODOXY  FALSE  SINCE  SPIRITUALISM 

IS  TRUE. 


-A 


Everybody  has  heard  of  the  witty  saying  of  Sydney 
Smith,  "  Orthodoxy  is  my  doxy,  and  heterodoxy  the 
other  man's  doxy."  But  this  is,  not  what  I  mean  by 
orthodoxy,  when  I  say  orthodoxy  is  false  since  spirit- 
ualism is  true.  I  mean  the  peculiar  religious  doctrines 
taught  by  what  are  called  the  evangelical  churches,  — 
those  who  take  the  ground  that  the  Bible  is  the  inspired 
word  of  God ;  that  man  is  totally  depraved,  and  born 
to  do  evil  continually,  in  consequence  of  Adam's  trans- 
gression ;  who  believe  in  the  eternity  of  torment  to 
which  he  thus  became  liable,  and  frem  which  he  can 
only  be  saved  by  belief  in  Jesus,  the  second  person  of 
the  Trinity,  through  whose  merits  the  true  believer 
escapes  the  pit  of  woe,  and  passes  through  the  pearly 
gates  into  the  New  Jerusalem,  there  to  sing  the  praises 
of  his  Redeemer  forever.  The  orthodox,  therefore,  in- 
clude Catholics,  Orthodox  Quakers,  Methodists,  Bap- 
tists, Presbyterians,  and  a  host  of  others. 

We  are  in  daily  communication  with  the  spirits  of 
the  departed,  some  of  whom  never  belonged  to  any 
religious  organization,  never  attended  church,  believed 
not  in  Jesus  as  a  Son  of  God,  and  the  Saviour,  never 
professed  to  be  born  more  than  once,  and  were  tl^re- 

167 


158  ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 


fore  orthodoxically  wicked ;  yet  we  fiud  they  are  in  no 
hopeless  prison, — 

"  "Where  sinners  must  with  devils  dwell, 
In  darkness,  fire,  and  chains." 

They  are  swimming  in  no  shoreless  brimstone  lake, 
with  waves  of  damnation  rolling  over  their  guilty 
souls ;  they  are  not  crying  for  a  drop  of  water  to  cool 
their  scorclied  tongues;  they  are  not  even  advising 
their  friends  who  are  still  on  earth  to  believe  the 
doctrines  of  orthodoxy,  and  obey  its  requirements,  that 
they  may  improve  their  condition  when  they  pass  to 
the  land  of  souls.        ^ 

But  some  of  our  departed  friends  were  members  of 
orthodox  churches :  they  did  believe  in  Jesus  as  their 
Saviour ;  they  were  baptized  in  his  name ;  they  believed 
themselves  mysteriously  born  again,  and  died  in  the 
faith,  with  the  full  prospect  of  the  heaven  that  had  been 
preached  to  them,  as  a  reward  of  the  righteous,  from 
their  infancy.  We  now  converse  with  them,  and  find 
them  to  be  just  such  persons  as  we  knew  upon  earth, 
save  that  their  orthodoxy  has  been  terribly  shattered. 
They  confess  to  us  that  the  religious  views  that  they 
held  here  were  altogether  contrary  to  the  facts  as  they 
find  them  there,  and  that  orthodoxy  is  as  wrong  as  its 
name  is  right.  They  find  no  golden  city  with  gates 
of  pearl,  no  God  seated  upon  a  great  white  throne,  no 
Jesus  at  his  right  hand,  no  twelve  subordinate  thrones 
upon  which  his  fishermen  disciples  sit,  judging  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  There  are  no  eye-full  beasts 
guarding  the  throne,  and  crying,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy ! " 
day  and  night ;  nor  elders  forever  throwing  down  their 
crwvus,  while  the  crowd  look  on  in  holy  admiration. 


ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 


159 


Thus  we  find  that  hell  and  heaven  alike  depart ;  and 
orthodoxy,  dressed  in  crape,  goes  weeping  after  them. 
No  more  can  the  orthodox  poet  picture,  as  did  Pol- 
lok  in  his  "  Course  of  Time,"  the  sinners'  abode :  — 

"  Wide  was  the  place, 
Ana  deep  as  wide,  and  ruinous  as  deep. 
Beneath,  I  saw  a  lake  of  burning  fire. 
With  tempest  tossed  perpetually ;  and  still 
The  waves  of  fiery  darkness  [strange  darkness  that]  'g^nst  the 

rocks 
Of  dark  damnation  broke,  and  music  made 
Of  melancholy  sort ;  and  overhead. 
And  all  around,  wind  warred  with  wind,  storm  howled 
To  storm,  and  lightning,  forked  lightning,  crossed. 
And  thunder  answered  thunder,  muttering  sounds 
Of  sullen  wrath.     And,  far  as  sight  could  pierce, 
Or  down  descend  in  caves  of  hopeless  depth, 
Through  all  that  dungeon  of  unfading  fire, 
I  saw  most  miserable  beings  walk ; 

Burning  continually,  yet  unconsumed ;  '       . 

Forever  wasting,  yet  enduring  still ; 
Dying  perpetually,  yet  never  dead.  ' "' 

Some  wandered  lonely  in  the  desert  flames : 
And  some  in  fell  encounter  fiercely  met, 
^Vith  curses  loud,  and  blasphemies  that  made 
The  cheek  of  darkness  pale ;  and  as  they  fought, 
And  ciu*scd,  and  gnashed  their  teeth,  and  wished  to  die, 
Their  hollow  eyes  did  utter  streams  of  woe. 
And  there  were  groans  that  ended  not,  and  sighs 
That  always  sighed,  and  tears  that  ever  wept 
And  ever  fell,  but  not  in  mercy's  sight.** 

This  wa8  the  hell  of  orthodoxy.  It  has  cooled  down 
considerably  since  this  was  written.  It  was  once  as 
fiery  as  the  primeval  earth,  when  white-hot  billows 
rolled  along  its  breast ;  but  it  cools  so  much  more 
rapidly,  that  our  children  may  expect  to  find  it  a  very 


I 


IGO  ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 

comfortable  place  of  abode.  All  will  yet  leani  thai 
110  worse  hell  exists  than  earth  makes  :  the  soul's  con- 
dition, wherever  that  soul  may  be,  produces  hell  or 
heaven,  if  we  still  make  use  of  the  names.  If  any 
thing  has  been  demonstrated  by  the  unnumbered 
communications  received  from  the  spirit-world  within 
the  last  twenty  years,  it  is  this. 

Since  the  hell  of  orthodoxy  is  false,  man  was  never 
in  danger  of  it,  and  he  never  needed  any  Jesus  to 
save  him  from  what  never  had  an  existence.  Jesus, 
then,  is  no  Saviour  in  the  orthodox  sense :  no  salvation 
came  by  him.  He  was  no  more  sent  of  God  than 
Patrick's  baby,  born  yesterday  ;  for  the  necessity  of  his 
being  sent  did  not  exist.  He  was  no  more  tlie  Son  of 
God  than  Socrates  who  preceded  him,  John  Brown 
who  came  after  him,  or  wo  who  criticise  him  ;  no  more 
a  Saviour  than  Socrates  and  Plato  who  shine  like  stars 
in  the  pagan  heavens,  or  Garrison  and  Phillips  who 
shine  in  ours  to-day, —  all  of  these  men  far  in  advance 
of  Jesus  in  many  respects. 

The  whole  plan  of  salvation  indeed,  as  taught  by 
orthodoxy,  is  essentially  unreasonable,  mean,  and  un- 
manly :  it  will  not  bear  the  light  of  rational  investiga- 
tion for  a  moment.  The  whole  human  race  had 
become,  by  the  sin  of  the  first  pair,  exposed  to  eternal 
torments,  and  were  of  themselves  utterly  unable  to  do 
one  good  deed,  or  think  one  good  thought.  Tiiey  had 
no  power  to  elevate  themselves  from  the  horrible  pit 
in  which  they  are  born,  none  to  save  themselves  from 
the  terrible  consequences  of  their  crimes.  In  this  lost 
condition,  God,  in  his  great  mercy,  formed  the  plan  t ) 
save  us  through  the  merits  of  his  well-beloved  Son, 
who  knew  no  sin,  but  became  a  sia-ofiferiug  for  us, 


ORTHODOXY  FAXSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 


161 


that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
him.  He  suffered  in  our  room  and  stead.  Our  chas- 
tisement was  laid  upon  him,  God  treating  him  as  if  he 
had  been  guilty  of  all  human  crime ;  and  we,  by  faith 
in  him,  are  treated  by  God  as  if  we  had  lived  his  life 
of  perfect  goodness.  We  have  no  virtue ;  but  the 
virtue  of  Jesus  is  attributed  to  us.  We  deserve 
nothing  but  hell,  —  even  the  best  of  us  ;  but,  by  some 
godly  hocus-pocus,  we  are  to  be  conjured  into  heaven. 
We  are  filtlry,  vile,  abominable;  but,  as  the  old 
Orthodox  hymn  says, — 

"  Jesus,  thy  blood  and  righteousness 
My  beauty  arc,  my  glorious  dress : 
Midst  flamin;^  worlds,  in  these  arrayed, 
With  joy  shiill  I  lill  up  my  head." 

What  a  contemptible  piece  of  business  is  this! 
Where  is  he,  possessing  the  soul  of  a  man,  that  would 
wish  to  sneak  into  heaven  under  the  cloak  of  Jesus 
(and  such  a  cloak  ! )  when  he  knew  in  his  own  soul 
that  he  had  no  right  to  be  there  ?  Instead  of  lifting 
up  his  head  with  joy,  a  decent  man  would  hang  his 
head,  and  blush  for  shame.  Suppose  that  robe  of 
"  blood  and  righteousness "  should  be  torn  from 
his  back,  and  he  revealed  in  his  hideous  nakedness  1 

The  heaven  of  orthodoxy  must  be  one  of  poltroons, 
and  spiritless,  fawning  sycophants,  who  chant  forever 
the  praises  of  Him  who  cheated  the  Prince  of  Darkness 
of  his  due,  and  opened  a  palace  of  bliss  for  hell- 
deserving  sinners,  who,  for  the  privilege  of  entering, 
must  bow  and  sing  glory  to  him  who  redeemed  them 
forever.  Such  a  scheme  could  never  have  been  devised 
in  America:  it  smacks  of  the  despotism,  the  servility, 
11 


f 


II 


•I' 

''Si 


•162  OBTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 

and  the  meanness  of  the  Old  World  of  kings,  my  lords, 
serene  highnesses,  and  grand  seigniors.     The  true,  un^ 
biassed  soul  intuitively  scorns  it.     It  says,  "  If  I  have 
done  deeds  worthy  of  hell,  then  to  hell  I  will  go  and 
bear  its  penalties  like  a  man,  asking  no  odds  of  the 
torturing  gods.     Let  mo  pass  for  what  I  am  (cloaks 
for  hypocrites  and  cowards)  :  I  desire  no  heaven  that  I 
Iiave   not  won,  and   I  fear  no-  hell   tliat   I   do   not 
deserve.''     The  man  who  deserves  heaven  will  have  it 
He  carries  the  key  to  its  gate  in  his  soul,  and  needs 
no  Jesus  to  indorse  him.     Give  us  justice,  and  what 
more  do  we  need  in  the  universe  ?     All  the  sin  of  all 
the  men  that  ever  lived  never  deserved  the  pain  of  an 
orthodox  hell  for  a  single  day  ;  and  any  being  that 
could  be  unjust  enough  to  make  it  should  be  the  first 
to  suffer  in  it. 

Reason  cannot  but  reject  this  whole  "  scheme  "  of 
salvation.     Finite  man  is  guilty  of  an  infinite  offence 
against  God.     He  incurs  by  this  means  a  debt  that  in- 
finity alone  can  pay.     AH  earth's  treasures  cast  into 
the  balance  weigh  not  the  millionth  of  a  feather  ;   the 
bnghtest  jewels  of  heaven  move  not  the  balance  one 
jot:  only  the  exchequer  of  a  God  can  furnish  the 
means  to  pay  the  mighty  debt  we  owe.     What  shall 
be  done  ?     If  the  debt  is  not  paid,  hell  and  its  eternal 
torments  await  every  sinful  soul.     At  length,  Jehovah 
plans  the   wondrous  scheme :    Jesus,   one   with   the 
Father,  -  very  God  of  very  God,"  as  the  Athanasian 
Creed  calls  him,  comes  down  to  this  abode  of  guiltv 
wretches.     He  is  born  of  a  woman,-^  a  pure  and  spot- 
less  virgin,  lives  a  perfect  life,  preaches  the  gospel  o^' 
the  kingdom,  works  the  most  wonderful  miracles,  is 
despised  and  rejected  of  men,  spat  upon,  buffeted,  and 


ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE.  163 

is  crucified,  the  just  for  the  unjust.  He  bore  man's 
sins,  suffered  in  his  stead,  washed  out  with  the  blood 
of  a  God  the  damning  spot  of  guilt  in  God's  book  of 
justice,  paid  the  infinite  debt  we  owed  ;  and  God  can 
now  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  that  believeth  in 
Jesus. 

What  a  medley  !  —  God  is  the  creditor ;  yet  God,  in 
the  person  of  his  Son,  pays  the  debt.  Man  is  the 
debtor :  the  debtor  is  poor,  and  cannot  pay  one  cent  of 
the  infinite  amount  he  owes.  God,  in  a  voice  of  thun- 
der, and  with  a  look  that  strikes  terror  to  the  guilty 
sinner's  heart,  domandi  payment  of  tlio  debt,  and 
holds  his  glitteruig  sword  ready  to  cut  him  down  un- 
less the  sum  is  paid.  Man,  in  an  agony,  looks  up,  ex- 
pecting the  blow  to  descend.  But  now  God's  pity  is 
moved  for  the  trembling  wretch.  "  You  cannot  pay, 
I  know,"  says  he  ;  "  but  the  debt  must  be  paid  to  the 
uttermost  farthing.  How  else  can  my  justice  be  satis- 
fied ?  Now  I  think  of  a  plan ; "  and,  taking  a  full  purse 
from  his  pocket,  he  hands  it  to  the  sinner,  who  returns 
it  to  his  creditor.  God  pockets  it  with  a  satisfied  air. 
The  debt  is  paid  ;  justice  is  satisfied  ;  and  the  sinner 
may  now  be  justified.  And  this  is  the  wonderful  plan 
of  salvation  that  angels  desire  to  see  into.  Blind 
must  that  soul  be  that  cannot  see  through  it !  Man 
was  so  wicked  before  Jesus  came,  that  God  could  by 
no  means  pardon  him;  but  he  kills  God,  and  thus 
crowns  his  wickedness,  and  God  is  graciously  pleased, 
when  he  pleads  the  merits  of  Jesus,  to  forgive  him, 
receives  him  into  his  house,  and  calls  him  his  son  I 
Yet,  now  that  the  debt  is  paid,  and  full  satisfaction 
given,  not  one  in  ten  receives  the  benefit :  the  gre:it 
body  of  the  human  race  must  languish  forever  in 
bell,  eternal  prisoners  for  debt. 


i: 

I 


i 


164  OBTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 

The  God  whoaf  we  are  told  declares  that  he  will  by 
no  means  clear  the  guiltj,  and  that  every  man  shall 
be  rewarded  according  to  his  works,  is,  by  this  salva^ 
tion  represented,  not  only  as  clearing  the  guilty,  but 
predicatmg  this  clearance  upon  the  sufferings  of  the 
mnocent,  and  rewarding  them,  not  according  to  their 
works,  but  their  belief  in  the  works  of  another 

The  cruelty  of  God  cannot  be  surpassed :  he  is,  ac- 
cordmg  to  this  salvation,  the  veriest  Shylock :  "  I  will 
have  the  due  and  forfeit  of  my  bond,  tliough  every 
soul  that  I  have  made  in  deep  damnation  endless 
Bmk.  At  the  same  time,  he  has  made  them  so  beg- 
garly poor,  that  they  cannot  pay.  The  sword  of  his 
justice,  red-hot,  can  only  be  cooled  in  the  blood  of  his 
mnocent  Son ;  and  he  is  even  yet  to  wreak  his  ven- 
geance upon  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  who  with  good 
sense  refuse  to  accept  such  a  useless,  contradictory, 
irrational,  and  unmanly  system. 

The  God  who  made  this  plan  must  have  less  jud<- 
ment  than  an  intelligent  school-boy,  less  conscienc°o 
than  a  pettifogger,  and  less  mercy  tlian  a  Confederate 
prison-keeper.  Hear  what  Watts,  the  orthodox  poet. 
Bays  of  him, —  ' 

"  Our  God  appeared  consuming  fire  ; 

And  Vengeance  was  his  name. 
Rich  were  the  drops  of  Jesus'  blood 

That  calmed  his  frowning  face. 
That  sprinkled  o'er  his  burning  throne, 

And  turned  the  wrath  to  grace." 

What  a  monster ! 

No  wonder  that  men  and  women  love  Jesus,  pray  to 
Jesus,  and  sing,  —  ^    ^ 

"  Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul, 
Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly." 


ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE.         165 

God  is  furious  as  a  chafed  lion ;  Jesus,  gentle  as  a  turtle- 
dove :  God  is  the  jailer ;  Jesus,  the  deliverer  of  those 
that  are  bound  :  God  is  the  heartless  Jew,  saying,  "  I 
stay  here  on  my  bond  ; "  Jesus,  the  gentle  Portia,  sug- 
gesting to  him,  "  Mercy  is  twice  blessed :  it  blesseth 
him  that  gives,  and  him  that  takes."  Yet  both  are, 
after  all,  the  same  individual.  It  would  seem  as  if 
such  a  story  could  only  have  been  received  on  the 
principle  that  it  is  right  for  God  to  do  what  would  be 
infamous  in  a  man  ;  and  that  what  in  us  would  be  utter 
folly  may  be  in  him  superlative  wisdom.  And,  when 
a  man  comes  to  that  conclusion  to-day,  he  will  be 
prepared  to  kiss  the  pope's  toe  to-morrow.  It  needs 
but  the  fearless  exercise  of  reason,  and  such  gods  will 
be  speedily  cast  into  the  limbo  where  lie  the  defunct 
deities  of  Greece  and  Rome. 

But,  if  Jesus  is  no  Saviour,  there  is  no  forgiveness 
of  sin  to  those  who  trust  in  him  or  pray  to  him.  Put 
as  much  faith  and  trust  in  a  rubber  doll,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  it  would  be  equally  efficacious  in  removing  guilt, 
and  sending  the  repenting  sinner  home  rejoicing. 
"  But  I  have  felt  it  here,''  replies  the  Christian,  placing 
his  hand  upon  his  breast.  Yes,  I  have  no  doubt: 
that  is  just  where  I  supposed  you  felt  it.  But  the 
Mohammedan  feels  it  here;  and  who  saves  him?  The 
Catholic  after  confession,  the  Mormon,  and  the  Bud- 
dhist, feel  it  here;  and  who  saves  all  these  ?  You  ought 
to  know  it  in  your  brain.  The  judgment  is  of  infinite- 
ly more  importance  than  the  feelings  in  such  matters, 
and,  when  properly  cultivated  and  unbiassed,  will  lead 
you  into  truth. 

The  believer  in  Jesus  is  not  saved  from  sin  :  he  is 
not  even  saved  from  the  filthy  habit  of  tobacco-chew- 


166  ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  bPIBITUALISM  TRUE 


f! 


^ 


\l 


ing,  as  any  church-sextoii  will  tell  you  ;  and,  on  com- 
muniou-days,  you  may  see  those  who  have  heen 
cleansed  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  take  the  quid  out 
of  their  moutlis,  that  they  may  put  the  body  of  Jesus 
in  ;  and  he  then  suffers  a  worse  fate  than  he  did  on 
Calvary.  The  Christian  believer  is  not  saved  from 
ignorance,  bigotry,  sickness,  poverty,  or,  indeed,  any 
evil ;  and  all  professions  of  this  character  result  either 
from  ignorance,  or  an  intention  to  deceive.  Salvation 
by  Jesus  is  a  delusion  ;  and  the  sooner  we  see  it  and 
proclaim  it,  the  better  for  mankind. 

But   if    these  orthodox  doctrines  are  untrue,  then 
the  Bible,  on  which  they  rest,  is  untrue.     It  teaches  the 
existence  of  an  ''everlasting   fire   prepared   for  the 
devil  and  his  angels,"  — a  "  lake  that  burns  with  fire 
and  brimstone ;  "  and,  if  the  Bible-writers  had  been 
acquainted  with  the  article,  it  had  doubtless  burned 
With   petroleum   also.     The  orthodox  heaven  is  the 
lieaven  of  the  Bible :  its  God-man   is   ho  who   says 
-Before  Abraham  was,  I  am,"  and,  "He  that  hath' 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."     It  is  the  Bible  that 
represents  Jesus  as  the  Saviour;  and  by  its  texts,  ham- 
mered  like   nails,  every  Sunday,  into  rickety  souls, 
orthodoxy  is  still  supported,  and  scares  its  victims  from 
the  exercise  of  their  reason,  or  cajoles  them  into  the 
support  of  its  delusions. 

Man  does  not  go  down  to  the  grave  at  death  to  come 
up  no  more,  as  the  Bible  declares ;  neither  does  he 
sleep  m  the  dust  till  awakened  by  a  great  trumpet- 
blast,  as  the  Bible  also  declares.  There  will  be  no 
judgment-day,  with  a  great  king  reviewing  all  nations, 
divided  into  the  two  classes,  righteous  and  wicked  ;  for 
there  are  no  such  persons,  all  people  being  partly  good, 


ORTHODOXY   FALSE.  SPIRIIUALISM   TRUE. 


167 


and  partly  bad.  Our  friends  that  departed  are  neither 
dead  nor  asleep  :  they  live  and  love,  and  come  to  us, 
teaching  us  that  the  life  of  the  future  is  but  a  continu- 
ation of  that  of  the  present,  and  altogether  different 
from  the  gloomy  and  unnatural  views  of  it  given  in  the 
Bililc,  vrliich  must  cease,  before  long,  to  be  regarded  as 
authority  by  a  single  thinking  soul. 

You  tell  me  that  the  Bible  is  the  text-book  of  our 
churches ;  it  is  read  in  our  schools,  recognized  in  our 
courts  of  justice,  and  reverenced  even  by  our  men  of 
science.  Yes  ;  and  it  was  the  text-book  of  all  slave- 
holders from  New  Jersey  to  Texas  ;  it  was  reverenced 
by  Constantino,  the  bloody  tyrant  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, and  is  reverenced  to-day  by  nearly  every  criminal 
that  our  prisons  hold.  The  less  that  is  said  about  the 
reverence  that  men  of  science  have  for  it,  the  better. 
The  reverence  that  such  men  as  Agassiz,  Dana,  Daw- 
son, and  others,  have  for  it,  is  the  fraternal  greeting  of 
Joab,  who  speaks  peaceably  to  Abner,  but  smites  him 
under  the  fifth  rib,  so  that  he  dies  :  a  kiss  is  on  their 
lips,  but  a  dagger  in  their  hands. 

We  cannot  do  otherwise  than  discard  the  Bible  as 
authority  ;  and,  should  it  be  retranslated  and  amended 
a  thousand  times,  it  would  still  be  the  same.  It 
abounds  with  the  grossest  fables  ;  it  tells  the  filthiest 
and  bloodiest  stories ;  it  contains  bad  grammar,  bad 
logic,  innumerable  contradictions,  bad  science,  and, 
what  is  worse,  bad  morality.  It  has  been  the  bul- 
wark of  slavery,  woman's  degradation,  bigotry,  and  re- 
ligious persecution,  in  every  age,  and  blasts  every  soul 
that  submits  with  unquestioning  reverence  to  its 
teachings.  Under  the  direction  of  orthodoxy,  it  has 
made  Jesus  a  highwayman,  who  clutches  men  by  the 


i*: 


168  ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  8PiaiTUALIS»f  TRUE. 


I 


I 


I 


throat,  and  demands,  "  Your  soul's  life,  or  belief  in 
my  doctrine."  And  wo  have  been  so  cowardly  as  to 
allow  him  to  parade  our  highways,  and  throttle  our 
citizens,  almost  without  expostulation,  because  he  lets 
loose  the  hound  of  public  opinion  upon  those  who 
refuse  to  yield  to  his  outrageous  demand. 

Jesus  must  come  to  us  as  a  philosopher  does,  and 
present  his  reasons  for  the  faith  that  ho  demands  ;  he 
must  place  his  doctrine  before  us  as  a  merchant  does 
his  wares,  and  we  must  judge  for  ourselves  whether 
they  are  worthy  of  our  acceptance.  What  should  wo 
think  of  the  merchant  who  demanded  that  we  should 
close  our  eyes  before  we  purchased  his  goods  ?  Wo 
should  naturally  conclude  that  they  would  not  bear 
examination,  and  that  he  wished  to  cheat  us.  When 
a  man  says  to  us,  "  Ho  that  believeth  not  what  I  teach 
shall  be  damned,"  he  is  attempting  to  close  the  eyes 
of  our  reason  ;  and  we  need  to  be  doubly  cautious  in 
receiving  what  he  presents.  "  So  much  of  your  doc- 
trine as  appears  to  us  to  be  reasonable,  Jesus,  we  will 
accept ;  and,  if  you  are  a  sensible  man,  this  is  all  you 
can  desire :  if  you  are  otherwise,  wo  are  not  to  bo 
troubled  by  you." 

The  day  of  unquestioning  acceptance,  of  childish, 
gaping  belief,  is  forever  over.  We  say  to  Moses, 
"  Come  with  your  old  stories  of  God-planted  gardens ; 
of  God-created  innocent  people,  who  did  not  know 
good  or  evil  till  they  had  partaken  of  a  mysterious 
and  forbidden  fruit;  of  wonderful  walki no:  and  talkinjr 
snakes ;  of  the  ark  that  saved  ten  times  as  many  as 
could  get  into  it :  we  will  receive  you  as  we  do  the 
Arab  with  his  "  Nights'  Entertainments,"  and  Swift 
with  his  stories  of  the  Liliputians  and  Brobdingnagians. 


"\ 


%-utaJU^ 


ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE.  169 

One  is  as  reasonable  as  the  other.     Men  are  as  likely 
to  be  forty  feet  high  as  to  be  nine  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  years  old.     You  are  just   as  welcome   as   they. 
Your  tales  can  go  with  those  of  "  Sinbad  the  Sailor," 
the  "  Wonderful  Lamp,"  and  the  "Forty  Thieves,"^ 
no  worse  thieves  than  the  Israelites  after  they  had  been 
forty  years    under  your  tuition.     You   saw  God  as 
Aladdin  saw  the  enchanted  garden.     You  talked  with 
him  as  really  as  Aladdin  with  the  geni,  and  received 
the  tables  of  stone  from  him  just  as  truly  as  Sinbad 
picked  up  the  precious  stones  in  the  Valley  of  Dia- 
monds.    But  you  must  not  expect  of  us  any  more 
than  this.     You  cannot  make  us  believe  that  you  talked 
with  the    Universal  Soul;  that   ho  engaged  you   to 
make  the  fantastic  fooleries  for  your  tabernacle,  and 
sat  upon  a  shittim-wood  box,  and  chatted  with  you  by 
the  hour,*  and  permitted  impertinences  from  you  that 
a  king  would  not   permit  from   his   prime-minister. 
We  tell  you  plainly  that  you  state,  what,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  must  be  false,  and  what,  if  any  man  should 
declare  to-day,  his  neighbors  would  consider  him  in 
consequence  deranged  or  an.infamous  liar." 

We  will  give  the  Bible  a  place  with  the  Koran,  the 
Talmud,  the  Book  of  Mormon,  the  Vedas  and  Shasters, 

Swedenborg's  works,  and  Davis's  Drvine  Revelations, 

no  more  from  God  than  they,  and  no  more  to  be  taken 
as  luthority  than  they. 

But  if  the  Bible  of  orthodoxy  is  false,  so  is  the  God 
that  it  reveals, —  Jehovah,  the  great  object  of  religious 
worship  in  the  churches  all  over  this  broad  land.  The 
Jewish  Jehovah  is  no  less  an  idol  than  the  Beelzebub 
of  the  Philistine,  or  the  Jove  of  the  Roman.     The  one 

*  Exodus  txv.  lu,  22. 


■  it 

■  H 


1 1 


170  ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  8PIRITUAUSM  TRUE. 

is  just  as  blessed  as  the  other ;  the  one  is  just  as  much 
our  Maker  as  the  other.     If  the  man  who  worsliips 
Jupiter  is  an  idolater,  the  man  who  worships  Jehovah 
is  equally  so.     If  the  temples  of  Jupiter  were  the 
fanes  of  an  idolatrous  people,  then  the  steeple-crowned 
churches   of   orthodoxy  are    the    temples    of   idola- 
trous worship ;  and  the  ministers  who  officiate  in  their 
pulpits  are  but  priests  at  the  altar  of  the  one  great  idol. 
A  prayer  offered  to  Jupiter  is  just  as  good  as  a  prayer 
oflfored  to  Jehovah :   "  0  Jupiter !  father  of  the  gods, 
and  lord  of  lords  ;  thou  who  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  and  man  to  dwell  upon  it :  we  beseech  thee 
to  hear  our  prayer,  and  give  heed  to  the  voice  of  our 
supplication.     Thou  wert  the  god  of  Remus  and  Rom- 
ulus, the  god  of  Caesar  and  Seneca,  and  thou  art  our 
god,  and  we  will  worship  thee.     Thou  wert  with  thy 
people,  the  Romans,  and  subdued  all  nations  upon 
earth  to  their  sway  ;  thou  gavest  them  dominion  from 
sea  to  sea,  and  from  Rome  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
0  Jupiter !  be  with  us  as  thou  wert  with  them ;  subdue 
our  enemies  before  us ;  let  thy  spirit,  and  the  spirit  of 
thy  wife  Juno,  descend,  and  dwell  in  our  hearts,  and 
abide  with  us  forever.     Hear  us  and  help  us.     Give  us 
of  thy  light,  thy  wisdom,  and  thy  power,  that  we  may 
serve  thee  with  our  whole  souls  while  here,  and  be  fit- 
ted to  enjoy  the  heaven  of  the  gods  hereafter."     Why 
is  not  that  as  good  as  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the 
prayers  offered  in  our  orthodox  churches  ?     It  will  as- 
cend just  as  high,  and  be  just  as  effectual  in  bringing 
a  ble^sing  down.     Jove  is  as  nigh  to  them  that  call 
upon  him  as  Jehovah ;  and  we  are  as  much  his  off- 
spring as   we  are  the  children  of  Ilim  whom  Paul 
calls  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


i 


ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE.  171 

What  has  the  Soul  of  the  universe  to  do  with  that 
being  who  cursed  Adam  and  Eve,  and  Eve  more  than 
Adam,  for  doing  what,  with  the  nature  he  had  given 
them,  they  could  not  help  doing  ?  —  a  being  who  curses 
on  account  of  them  every  child  born  into  the  world. 
Is  the  Soul  of  the  universe  related  to  Him  who  walked 
about  in  a  garden,  and,  like  children  playing  at  hide- 
and-seek,  called  out,  ''  Adam,  where  art  thou  ?  To 
Him  who  wrestled  with  a  tricky  Jewish  stock-breeder 
for  a  whole  night,  and  only  escaped  from  his  hands  by 
putting  his  thigh  out  of  joint  ? 

What  have  we  to  do  with  a  being  that  turned  water 
into  blood,  made  lice  out  of  dust,  filled  the  land  of  Egypt 
with  flies  and  frogs,  and  at  length  murdered  more 
than  a  million  people,  because  Pliaraoh  did  what  ho 
had  predetermined  that  he  should  do,  and  so  hardened 
his  heart  that  he  could  not  avoid  doing  ?  —  a  being 
who  gave  a  country  already  occupied  to  a  nation  who 
had  no  right  to  a  foot  of  it,  and  made  every  man  in 
that  nation  a  murderer  that  they  might  conquer  and 
possess  it  ? 

Was  it  the  Soul  of  the  universe  that  tempted  Abra- 
ham to  slay  his  cherished  son,  and,  when  the  infatuated 
patriarch  took  up  the  knife  to  perform  the  dreadful 
deed,  sent  his  angel  to  stay  the  murderous  hand,  and 
said,  '•  In  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in  multiply- 
ing I  will  multiply  thy  seed  as  the  stars  of  heaven, 
and  as  the  sand  which  is  upon  the  seashore.  .  .  .  And 
in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed 
because  thou  hast  obeyed  my  voice  "  ? 

What  a  pious  old  saint  to  be  sure  !  —  ready  to  commit 
a  murder  because  a  voice  commanded  him.  Human 
nature,  and  the  God  within,  should  have  led  him  to 


172  ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 


'•i 


^ 


reply,  "  I  won't  touch  the  lad  for  you  nor  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  I  despise  you  for  asking  me  to  do  such  au 
infamous  deed."  When  men  set  up  such  a  great 
bloody  idol  as  this  for  a  God,  it  is  our  duty,  as  recipi- 
ents of  clearer  light,  to  overthrow  it,  and  deliver  the 
world  from  its  curse. 

Neither  Elohim  nor  Jehovah  created  the  earth  and 
the  heavens  in  six  days,  nor  in  sixty  millions.  He  did 
not  make  man  about  six  thousand  years  ago  ;  for  man 
has  been  here  a  hundred  times  as  long.  He  did  not 
curse  man  with  death  ;  for  death  was  in  the  world  ages 
before  man  made  his  appearance.  In  short,  he  never 
did  any  thing,  for  he  is  not ;  and  his  worshippers  are 
as  truly  idolaters  as  those  whose  condition  they  deplore. 

But  I  am  asked,  "  How  is  it  that  men  of  well- 
djveloped  minds  and  cultivated  intellects  have  bowed 
down  to  this  God,  and  accepted  the  religion  that  in- 
culcates his  worship  ?  Why  is  it,  that,  among  the 
most  intelligent  people  of  ihis  planet,  Jesus  is  re- 
garded as  the  Saviour,  and  Jehovah  as  the  God  and 
Father,  of  all  ?  " 

The  mass  of  the  people  ask  only  that  a  thing  shall 
be  popular.  If  they  find  a  faith  in  existence  in  their 
country  when  they  arrive,  —  and  where  is  the  country 
destitute  of  one  ?  —  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred 
draw  it  in  as  they  do  their  mother's  milk.  When 
grown  to  the  age  of  understanding,  how  difficult  to 
deliver  ourselves  from  the  influence  of  early  training, 
and  still  more,  perhaps,  to  resist  the  psychologic  influ- 
ence of  the  masses  surrounding  us  !  As  the  magnet- 
ism of  the  earth  causes  every  poised  needle  to  point  to 
the  north  ;  so  the  influence  of  a  people's  faith  bears  on 
every  individual,  and  tends  to  bring  each  to  the  same 


ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE.         173 


opinion.  But  few  are  able  to  withstand  its  power. 
Of  a  thousand  born  in  Arabia,  there  is  not,  probably, 
more  than  one  who  thinks  of  questioning  the  popular 
faith,  —  "There  is  one  God,  and  Mohammed  is  his 
prophet."  Tell  them  that  Mohammed  was  like  other 
men,  except  that  he  was  more  shrewd  and  more 
fanatical,  and  they  exclaim  at  once,  "  You  infidel 
dog ! "  The  more  intelligent  say,  "  If  you  have  no 
respect  for  our  prophet,  have  some  for  these  indispu- 
table facts :  Mohammedans  number  to-day  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  millions.  Established  six  hundred 
years  after  Christianity,  our  religion  has  supplanted  it 
in  its  original  home.  It  has  overspread,  not  only 
Arabia,  but  Persia,  Turkey,  Palestine,  a  large  portion 
of  South-eastern  Asia,  and  half  of  Africa.  When  all 
Christian  countries  were  buried  in  the  ignorance  of  the 
dark  ages,  then  science  flourished  only  where  our 
religion  fostered  it.  Can  you  not  see  the  hand  of  God 
in  such  a  career  ?  and  is  it  not  evident  that  Moham- 
med was  indeed  what  he  proclaimed,  —  the  prophet  of 
God?  "  We  cannot  see  this,  of  course.  Neither  can 
I  see  the  hand  of  God  in  the  career  of  Jesus,  nor  in 
Christianity  since  his  death.  When  Christianity  was 
first  taught,  Jesus  was  expected  to  be  seen  "  coming 
in  the  clouds"  every  day,  to  reward  those  who  believed 
in  him,  and  punish  all  who  rejected  his  gospel.  What 
more  natural  than  for  the  multitude,  who  desire  to  be 
on  what  seems  the  safe  side,  to  accept  this  simple  faith 
in  Jesus,  which  promises  such  unspeakable  blessings 
here  and  hereafter,  and  deliverance  from  the  terrible 
woes  denounced  against  the  unbeliever?  When  the 
multitude  have  accepted  a  certain  religion,  how  few, 
even  of  men  of  science,  have  backbone  enough  to 


II 


m 


{I 

i 


.1 


'1 


I 


174  ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE* 

reject  it,  when  at  Iieart  they  despise  the  creed  that 
cramps  thorn  I  Huiuboldt  is  content  privately  to  sneer 
at  orthodoxy,  but  never  publicly  attacks  it.  Agassiz 
states  what  falsifies  the  Mosaic  story,  and  evidently 
disbelieves  it,  and  yet  so  writes  as  to  lead  people  to 
think  that  he  credits  its  fables.  Miiller,  the  linguist, 
shows  conclusively,  that  he  has  outgrown  all  faith  in 
the  miraculous  inspiration  of  the  Bible  ;  but  his  posi- 
tion keeps  him  from  boldly  declaring  the  fact.  It  is 
not  bearing  false  witness  to  say,  that  at  least  three- 
fourths  of  the  scientific  professors  in  England  and 
America  have  no  faith  in  Christianity  as  a  miraculous 
religion  ;  but  their  position  is  such,  that  Yeryfew  dare 
to  be  true  to  their  inward  convictions. 

But  I  am  asked,  "  How  could  Jesus  have  attained 
the  lofty  position  that  he  at  present  occupies,  how 
could  he  have  commanded  the  veneration  of  the 
wisest  and  the  host  for  nearly  two  thousand  years,  if 
he  was  not  indeed  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  Saviour 
of  mankind  ?  " 

The  time  in  which  he  was  born  was  one  of  igno- 
rance and  superstition  ;  faith  in  miracles  was  almost 
universal  ;  and  but  little  knowledge  existed  of  the 
operations  of  natural  law.  The  whole  Jewish  nation 
was  looking  for  the  Messiah ;  and  this  was  just  the  soil 
in  which  he  might  be  expected  to  spring  up.  How 
many  who  believe  in  Jesus  in  America  would  accept 
as  a  Son  of  God,  and  a  miraculous  Saviour,  the  man 
who  could  present  no  better  credentials  than  Jesus 
did?  —  his  mother  denying  that  ho  was  his  reputed 
father's  son,  the  only  evidence  to  show  that  he  was 
not  illegitimate  being  such  as  dreams  furnish.  He 
lives  for  thirty  years,  but  does  scarcely  any  thing 


ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 


175 


worthy  of  record:  he  picks  out  for  his  disciples 
twelve  illiterate  and  superstitious  fishermen,  who  ap- 
pear, from  the  record,  to  have  been  ready  to  believe 
any  thing  that  their  master  told  them.  When  the 
sceptical  very  properly  ask  him  for  a  sign,  he  abuses 
them  by  calling  them  an  evil  and  adulterous  genera- 
tion. Should  a  man  perform  all  the  miracles  that 
Jesus  is  said  to  have  performed,  how  many  believers 
would  he  have  now  ?  —  not  one-half  of  those  who  saw 
him  do  them.  Circumstances  favored  the  claim  of 
Jesus,  just  as  they  favored  Mohammed,  and  as  they 
favored  Gautama.  Jesus  was  not  the  first,  by  a  hun- 
dred, who  had  called  himself  the  Christ,  or  was  so 
considered  by  others  ;  and,  after  his  time,  there  were 
"  Christs  many."  How  could  Gautama  be  the  centre 
of  attraction  to  thousands  of  millions  (four  hundred 
millions  now  living),  if  he  was  not  what  the  Buddhists 
believe  him  to  have  been,  —  a  god,  and  the  savior  of 
mankind  ?  How  came  such  gods  as  Zeus,  Jove,  Her- 
cules, Bacchus,  and  Esculapius,  to  be  worshipped  by 
the  master-intellects  of  Greece  and  Rome  for  ages  ?  — 
beings  that  never  existed  at  all,  yet  commanded  the 
heart's  adoration  of  thousands  of  millions  of  the  wisest 
and  best  of  their  time.  Do  you,  Protestant,  suppose 
that  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  was  any  more  than  a 
dark-eyed,  chatty  Jewish  maiden,  who,  going  barefoot 
to  the  well  at  Nazareth,  captivated  the  mechanic, 
Joseph,  as  he  worked  on  the  roof  of  a  neighboring 
house  ?  Yet  read  the  Catholic  prayer-book,  and  see 
the  adoration  paid  to  their  queen  of  heaven,  the 
mother  of  God,  whom  millions  beg  to  intercede  for 
them. 
When  a  man  asks  me  to  accept  Christianity  because 


i 


176  ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  SPIBITUAUSM  TRUE. 


« 


of  its  widespread  power  aiid  influence,  I  say  to  liim, 
Why  not  turn  Buddhist  ?  Christianity  numbers  two 
hundred  millions  of  believers ;  but  Buddhism  has  a  list 
of  four  hundred  millions.  If  the  fact  contained  in  the 
first  figures  makes  Christianity  the  true  religion,  and 
Jesus  the  Son  of  God,  then  Buddhism  must  be  doubly 
true,  and  Gautama  twice  as  much  God's  son. 

Jesus  was  a  man  who  taught  many  beautiful  and 
excellent  lessons ;  a  man  who  sympathized  with  the 
poor,  and  denounced  their  tyrants,  but  at  the  same  time 
taught  many  lessons  that  were  neither  true  nor  beau- 
tiful ;  a  man  who  displayed  overweening  self-esteem, 
and  who  was  much  more  desirous  that  men  should  be- 
lieve in  him  than  that  they  should  bo  true  to  them- 
selves. He  is  no  more  our  master  than  George  Pox, 
John  Wesley,  or  Joseph  Smith.  We  do  not  therefore 
exhort  men  to  "  stand  up  for  Jesus,"  but  to  stand  up 
for  humanity  that  needs  it.  Man  has  been  trampled 
upon,  his  reason  denounced,  his  selfliood  cast  down, 
that  an  idol  might  be  elevated  upon  it.  Jesus  is  the 
Christian  Juggernaut.  In  India,  the  devotees  throw 
their  bodies  before  the  idol :  in  Christian  countries, 
they  prostrate  their  souls  before  theirs  ;  and  Jesus  in 
his  triumphal  car,  drawn  by  his  blinded  followers, 
encouraged  by  his  priests,  rides  ever  over  them.  Let 
a  man  ofifor  his  reasonable  protest  against  this  idolatry, 
and  he  is  at  once  denounced  as  the  vilest  criminal ;  the 
orthodox  bloodhounds  are  put  upon  his  track,  and  their 
hayings  tell  how  gladly  they  would  hunt  the  heretic  to 
death  if  they  only  had  the  power,  as  they  had  before 
intelligence  muzzled  them. 

All  these  false,  then  is  orthodoxy  false.  These 
churches  of  the  living  God,  so  called,  are  shams  every 


ORTHODDXY  FALSE,   SPIRITtJALISM  TRUE.         177 


one  ;  and  the  ceremonies  performed  in  them  the  veriest 
child's  play.  What  has  the  Soul  of  the  universe  to 
do  with  their  pompous  prayers,  their  silly  rituals,  their 
sprinklings,  dippings,  and  port-wine  sippings,  called 
lioly  sacraments  ?  what  to  do  with  their  begging,  be- 
seeching, sometimes  howling  prayer-meetings  ?  their 
mesmeric  revivals,  in  which  the  hallucination  of  one 
is  communicated  to  the  many,  and  a  foolish  consistency 
leads  men  to  cling  to  it  for  life  ?  God  has  no  more  to 
do  with  all  this  than  he  has  with  the  shoe-shops  of 
Massachusetts,  or  the  printing-offices ;  and  it  would 
be  just  as  proper  to  call  a  ball-club  the  club  of  God  as 
a  hundred  ignorant  orthodox  believers  God's  church. 
It  is  high  time  that  the  pretensions  of  the  high  priests 
of  a  no  better  than  pagan  mythology  were  scouted,  and 
a  true  estimate  made  of  their  sanctity,  knowledge,  and 
power.  Professing  to  know  God,  they  are  the  most 
ignorant  of  him,  for  they  do  not  study  Nature  by  sci- 
ence, which  alone  reveals  him  ;  pretending  to  teach  men 
the  way  to  heaven,  they  close  the  door  against  the  very 
angels  who  come  to  reveal  it.  i 

Spiritualism  is  to  aid  greatly  in  delivering  us  from 
orthodox  tyranny  and  idolatrous  man-worship,  leading 
men  to  the  God  and  Saviour  within  that  each  possesses, 
to  the  salvation  that  comes  by  the  exercise  of  our  own 
powers,  and  to  the  Jieaven  for  all,  of  which  no  Peter 
keeps  the  key,  and  to  which  the  name  of  Jesus  is  no 
"  Operiy  sesame'^  Think  of  the  time  and  energy  wasted 
in  praising  Jesus,  praying  to  Jesus,  preaching  Jesus, 
and  the  labor  and  money  squandered  in  spreading 
abroad  fantastic  statements  concerning  this  man,  over 
the  world,  instead  of  giving  people  a  knowledge  of 
themselves  and  the  laws  of  the  universe,  —  knowledge 
that  concerns  us  every  diy. 

12 


T^ 


178         ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 

But  orthodoxy  has  seen  its  greatest  triumphs ;  and  its 
day  of  prosperity  is  over.  Its  feeble  stars  are  paling 
in  the  light  of  the  new  morn  that  greets  humanity. 
It  is  already  ashamed  of  its  hell,  —  a  phantom  conjured 
up  in  the  days  of  ignorance  by  some  undeveloped  soul, 
who,  in  deep  malignity,  wished  that  those  who  had  of- 
fended him  here  might  be  infinitely  tortured  hereafter. 
The  brimstone  and  the  smoke  are' indeed  gone  ;  the 
Devil,  the  dusky  jailer  of  the  pit,  is  dead.  And  what 
becomes  of  orthodoxy  then  ?  Hell  has  been  the  fire 
whose  heat  created  nine-tenths  of  the  steam  that  ran 
the  machinery.  Take  the  fire  of  hell  out  of  a  revival, 
and  then  try  to  keep  it  up  !  You  might  as  well  think 
of  running  a  locomotive  by  crowding  the  fire-box 
with  ice-blocks.  No  fire,  no  steam  ;  no  steam,  no  mo- 
tion ;  the  orthodox  train  at  a  dead  stand-still.  How 
many  missionaries  would  wander  into  foreign  lands  to 
preach  the  story  of  the  cross,  if  Jesus  does  not  save  his 
believers  from  hell  ?  How  long  would  Christian 
churches  be  crowded  to  listen  to  dry-as-dust  sermons, 
and  nod  over  mile-long  prayers,  if  the  hearers  did  not 
imagine,  that,  in  some  way,  this  helps  them  "  to  escape 
the  jaws  of  hell  "  ? 

Orthodoxy  is  doomed,  and  is  powerless  as  its  God  to 
avert  its  doom.  And  why  should  we  mourn  ?  It  scat- 
ters its  hymu-books,  pious  tracts,  ijnd  Bibles,  but  stands 
at  the  door  of  our  public  library,  and  refuses  on  its 
market-day  (Sunday)  to  open,  and  admit  the  hungry 
souls ;  for  that  might  diminish  the  attendance  at  its 
temples.  It  would  thus  stand  at  the  door  of  heaven, 
if  it  had  the  power,  and  admit  none  but  the  bigots 
who  can  pronounce  its  shibboleth.  It  would  "  circum- 
navigate the  globe  to  disturb  the  creed  of  a  single  beg- 


ORTHODOXT   FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM  TRUE.         179 

gar  ; "  but  it  would  not  stir  a  step  to  break  the  chains 
of  four  million  slaves,  and  cursed,  in  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah, all  who  did :  but,  when  infidel  abolitionists  made 
antislavery  popular,  it  joined  in  the  cry  for  freedom, 
and  now  demands  that  all  the  credit  of  the  slave's  free- 
dom shall  be  given  to  the  "  church  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  It  imprisoned  Galileo  ;  it  murdered  Bruno ; 
it  slandered  and  belied  Thomas  Paine,  and  still  repeats 
its  calumnies  and  lies  ;  it  burned  Michael  Servetus ; 
it  hung  the  Quakers,  who  were  less  orthodox  than  its 
creed ;  it  imprisoned  Abner  Kneeland,  and  compels  our 
children  to  listen  daily  to  the  reading  of  its  Jewish 
story-book,  that  it  claims  contains  the  will  of  '*  God 
Most  High."  If  its  prayers  had  been  of  any  avail,  it 
would  have  murdered  Theodore  Parker  :  it  did  its  best, 
and  now  sits,  and  gnashes  its  teeth  at  those  it  is  no 
longer  able  to  tear.  It  dooms  Dickens  to  damnation, 
because  his  heart  was  too  large,  and  his  intellect  too 
clear,  to  accept  its  dogmas,  and  by  his  presence  there 
makes  its  hell  so  much  more  attractive  than  its  heaven. 
Ho  had  his  faults,  who  is  without  them?  but  none 
one-half  as  bad  as  the  bigotry  of  the  reverend  Maw 
worms  that  anathematize  him.  "  He  was  no  Chris- 
tian," say  the  bigots.  Let  us  hope  that  he  was  not. 
He  was  something  very  much  superior, —  a  man  of  sur- 
passing genius  and  world-wide  humanity,  whose  name 
will  bo  blessed  when  orthodoxy  will  be  a  by-word 
among  all  people. 

What,  then,  have  we  to  do  with  orthodoxy  ?  Shall  we 
give  our  money  to  raise  its  proud  steeples  ?  shall  we 
send  our  children  to  its  Sunday  schools  to  have  fetters 
fastened  upon  their  limbs  that  it  will  take  years  to 
break?  shall  w.?  p-iy  fir  pews  in  its  heathen  temples. 


1» 


180  ORTHODOXY   FALSE,  SPIRITUALISM   TRUE. 

and  reverence  its  false  gods  ?  If  all  who  are  reform- 
ers at  heart  would  assert  their  individuality,  we  should 
soon  see  the  good  time  that  we  hope  for.  Don't  go 
ducking  and  bowing,  cringing  and  crawling,  through 
the  world  ;  believing  in  Nature,  and  sacrificing  to  Je- 
hovah; believing  in  individuality,  and  yet  paying 
priests,  and  building  their  "joss-houses!"  We  can 
do  infinitely  better. 

Our  God  is  Nature — father,  mother.  As  near  to  thy 
child,  hard-handed  mechanic,  and  thy  child  as  dear  to 
God,  as  the  infant  Jesus  was  when  he  lay  on  the  breast 
of  Mary.  On  his  broad  bosom  we  shall  be  borne  be- 
yond death  to  the  glorious  world  of  the  hereafter,  — 
life  there  a  continuance  of  life  here,  a  spiritual  blos- 
somiug  of  what  this  life  has  been  but  the  bud. 

We  can  make  no  compromise  with  orthodoxy  hence- 
forth and  forever.  Ours  is  a  new  religion,  a  new  God, 
a  new  heaven,  and  a  gospel  which  is  destined  to  make 
a  new  earth.  We  do  not  blame  the  people  who  have 
accepted  the  old  (they  probably  did  the  best  they 
could)  ;  but  these  old  skeletons  shall  not  reach  their 
bony  hands  out  of  their  mouldy  sepulchres,  and  drag 
us  in  to  chatter  with  them.  Ours  the  living  present ; 
ours  the  sunshine  and  the  song  of  birds,  the  sound  of 
purling  brooks,  the  joy  of  the  living  world  ripening  in 
God's  smile,  —  the  vestibule  of  heaven. 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


180  ORTHODOXY   FALSE,   SPIRITUALISM  TRUE. 

and  reverence  its  false  gods  ?  If  all  who  are  reform- 
ers at  heart  would  assert  their  individuality,  we  should 
soon  see  the  good  time  that  we  hope  for.  Don't  go 
ducking  and  bowing,  cringing  and  crawling,  through 
the  world  ;  believing  in  Nature,  and  sacrificing  to  Je- 
hovah;  believing  in  individuality,  and  yet  paying 
priests,  and  building  their  "  joss-houses !  "  We  can 
do  infinitely  better. 

Our  God  is  Nature — father,  mother.  As  near  to  thy 
child,  hard-handed  mechanic,  and  thy  child  as  dear  to 
God,  as  the  infant  Jesus  was  when  he  lay  on  the  breast 
of  Mary.  On  his  broad  bosom  we  shall  be  borne  be- 
yond death  to  the  glorious  world  of  the  liereafter,  — 
life  there  a  continuance  of  life  here,  a  spiritual  blos- 
soming of  what  this  life  has  been  but  the  bud. 

We  can  make  no  compromise  with  orthodoxy  hence- 
forth and  forever.  Ours  is  a  new  religion,  a  new  God, 
a  new  heaven,  and  a  gospel  which  is  destined  to  make 
a  new  earth.  We  do  not  blame  the  people  who  have 
accepted  the  old  (they  probably  did  the  best  they 
could)  ;  but  these  old  skeletons  shall  not  reach  their 
bony  hands  out  of  their  mouldy  sepulchres,  and  drag 
us  in  to  chatter  with  them.  Ours  the  living  present ; 
ours  the  sunshine  and  the  song  of  birds,  the  sound  of 
purling  brooks,  the  joy  of  the  living  world  ripening  in 
God's  smile,  —  the  vestibule  of  heaven. 


;  }■ 


m 

3-. 


S 


WHAT  IS  SI6IT? 


i\ 


tn^ 


WHAT    IS    RIGHT? 


u 


i 


<  « 


It  is  Friday,  the  Mussulman's  holy  day.  The  cry 
of  the  muezzin  has  stirred  the  sultry  air,  and  thou- 
sands are  flowing  through  the  streets  to  tlie  stately 
mosque.  Let  us  follow.  The  swelling  dome  is  over 
our  heads,  the  marble  pavement  beneath  our  feet,  and 
around  us  a  host  of  bended  worshippers,  their  hands 
clasped  in  the  fervor  of  devotion.  Listen  to  the 
voice  of  this  kneeling  supplicant  by  our  side :  "  0 
Allah  !  I  am  weak,  but  thou  art  all-strong ;  strengthen 
me  to  do  the  right,  that  I  may  enjoy  hereafter  the 
bliss  of  Paradise." 

As  he  rises  from  his  knees,  we  accost  him,  and  say, 
"  Friend,  you  have  been  praying  to  Allah,  or  God,  to 
strengthen  you  to  do  right :  will  you  please  to  tell  us 
what  you  mean  by  right  ?  "  —  "  Certainly,"  replies  the 
Mussulman,  with  a  look  of  sorrow  for  our  ignorance 
of  so  simple  yet  important  a  subject.  "  There  is  one 
God,  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet.  This  God  has 
graciously  revealed  his  will  to  us,  by  his  prophet,  in 
his  holy  word  the  Koran,  —  a  book  superior  to  every 
other  book  in  the  world.    To  obey  the  commands  of 

183 


II 


184 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


God,  as  given  in  this  book,  is  to  do  right ;  and  to  dis- 
obey them  is  to  do  wrong.  Cast  away  this  precious 
volume,  and  we  have  no  guiding  star  by  which  to 
regulate  our  wanderings :  we  cannot  tell  what  is 
right,  or  what  is  wrong,  and  are  the  slaves  of  igno- 
rance and  vice." 

It  is  Saturday,  the  Jewish  holy  day.  There  stands 
the  gorgeous  temple,  little  less  beautiful  than  the 
pride  of  Jerusalem  on  Mount  Moriah,  so  silently 
erected  in  the  days  of  Solomon.  In  the  pulpit  be- 
hold the  venerable  rabbi,  his  white  beard  resting 
upon  his  breast.  Around  him  are  the  sons  of  Israel, 
and  above  in  the  gallery  the  daughters,  assembled  to 
worship  the  God  of  their  fathers.  From  the  ark  ho 
has  taken  the  sacred  parchment ;  and,  reverentially 
unrolling  it,  he  reads  a  portion  of  the  law  of  Moses, 
and  then  addresses  the  assembled  congregation: 
"  Men  and  brethren,  children  of  our  father  Jacob,  I 
beseech  you,  do  right;  then  shall  ye  be  blessed  in 
your  basket  and  in  your  store,  in  your  going-out,  and 
in  your  coming-in.  Do  right  at  all  times,  and  the 
blessing  of  Jehovah  out  of  Zion  will  descend  and 
rest  upon  you." 

As  the  aged  rabbi  descends  from  the  pulpit,  we 
accost  him,  "  You  have  been  advising  your  brethren 
to  do  right :  will  you  please  to  tell  us  what  you  mean 
by  right  ?  "  —  "  Certainly,  my  son,"  replies  the  rabbi. 
"  The  Almighty  God,  who  made  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  has  revealed  himself  to  mankind  by  his  ser- 
vant Moses,  and  the  prophets  :  they  have  written  his 
holy  law ;  and  that  law  is  contained  in  a  book  that 
Christians  call  the  Old  Testament  (the  New  Testa- 
ment is  but  a  record  of  fables,  and  unworthy  of  cre- 


WHAT  IS  BIGHT  ? 


185 


n 


dence  from  any  rational  mind).    To  obey  God's  law 
as  thus  revealed,  is  to  do  right ;  to  violate  it  is  to  do 
wrong :  and  under  heaven  there  is  no  other  way  by 
which  a  man  can  tell  what  is  right  or  what  is  wrong, 
but  by  studying  this  word  of  Jehovah." 

It  is  Sunday,  the  Christian's  holy  day  ;  and  from  a 
hundred  steeples  floats  the  music  of  a  thousand  bells ; 
and  through  the  streets  of  the  city  pass  multitudes, 
dressed  in  their  gayest  attire,  to  their  respective 
places  of  worship.  There  stands  the  grand  cathedral, 
with  its  cloud-reaching  spire.  We  enter,  and  admire 
the  stateliness  and  beauty  of  this  "  God's  house." 

The  organ's  peal  sweeps  ihrougli  the  aisle 
In  tones  would  make  an  angel  smile ; 
Now  soft,  as  is  a  fairy  strain, 
Then  "  groaning  like  a  god  in  pain." 

Slowly  a  head  rises  from  behind  a  tasselled  desk, 
and  the  minister  reads,  "  He  that  doeth  righteous- 
ness is  righteous,  even  as  he  is  righteous  ; "  and  from 
this  text  he  preaches.  "  Friends,"  he  exclaims,  as  he 
proceeds  with  his  discourse,  "  to  be  happy  here  and 
hereafter,  we  must  obey  the  will  of  God ;  in  other 
words,  do  right.  He  who  does  the  right  has  God  for 
his  father,  Jesus  for  his  friend,  and  heaven  for  his 
home ;  but  to  the  wrong-doer  there  is  misery  in  this 
world,  and  a  fearful  looking-for  of  fiery  indignation 
in  the  next." 

When  the  congregation  is  dismissed,  we  approach 
the  minister,  and  inquire  what  he  means  by  the  word 
"  right,"  which  he  has  so  frequently  used  in  his  dis- 
course. "  To  do  right,  sir,"  he  replies,  "  is  to  &o  as 
God  commands  us.     He  has  revealed  his  will  to  us  by 


I 


►^ 


186 


"WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


his  word,  contained  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
where  we  find  *  truth  without  any  mixture  of  error.' 
To  obey  his  will,  as  thus  revealed,  is  to  do  right :  to 
violate  that  will  is  to  do  wrong ;  and  the  wrong-doer, 
unless  he  applies  to  the  Friend  of  sinners  for  pardon, 
will  be  cast  into  outer  darkness,  where  there  is  weep, 
ing  and  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth." 

We  have,  then,  already  three  rules  of  right,  —  the 
Mohammedan,  Jewish,  and  Christian.  "  How  do  you 
know,*'  we  say  to  the  Mohammedan,  "  that  yours  is  the 
rule  of  right  ?  "  — "  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  it,"  he 
replies.  "  Did  not  the  angel  Gabriel  appear  to  our 
prophet,  and  cause  the  Koran,  that  holy  volume  writ- 
ten on  a  table,  by  the  throne  of  God  himself,  to  de- 
scend on  his  heart  for  a  direction  and  good-tidings  to 
the  faithful  ?  No  unassisted  human  being  could  ever 
have  written  such  a  wonderful  book,  every  page  of 
which  bears  the  impress  of  a  hand  divine.  See  the 
rapid  advance  of  our  religion,  which,  in  a  few  years, 
overspread  the  world,  and  now  comprises  so  large  a 
portion  of  its  population.  Besides,  I  know  that  the 
Koran  is  divine,  and  the  only  rule  of  right.  Obeying 
its  precepts,  I  have  fasted  and  prayed,  with  ray  face 
towards  Mecca,  groaning  under  the  weight  of  my  sins, 
when  the  prophet  (glory  to  his  name!)  has  taken 
away  my  guilt,  revealed  himself  to  my  soul,  and  1 
have  gone  on  my  way  rejoicing." 

To  the  Jew  we  say, "  How  do  you  know  that  you 
are  right  ?  "  —  "  Nothing  can  be  more  certain,"  replies 
the  Jew.  "  God  appeared  to  Moses;>ur  lawgiver,  on 
Mount  Sinai,  and  amid  thunders  and  lightnings  deliv- 
ered«to  him  our  holy  law,  and  instituted  his  everlast- 
ing ordinances.     Through  the  Red  Sea  he  brought 


WHAT  IS  EIGHT  ? 


187 


our  fathers  by  the  strength  of  his  own  right  arm,  fed 
them  with  angels*  food,  and  delivered  their  enemies 
into  their  hands.  And  in  the  day  of  atonement  have 
I  gone  to  our  synagogue,  bowed  down  with  guilt, 
where  the  rabbi  has  interceded  for  us,  and  I  have  re- 
turned rejoicing  in  the  God  of  my  salvation ;  for  my 
sins,  which  were  heavy  as  a  mountain,  he  lifted  off, 
and  removed  far  from  me." 

To  the  Christian  we  say,  "  Are  you  sure  that  yours 
is  the  rule  of  right?  May  you  not  be  mistaken?"* 
"  Never,"  he  replies  :  "  it  is  impossible.  The  Bible 
is  God*8  holy  word,  confirmed  by  miracles,  prophecies, 
and  a  morality  pure  as  the  light  of  day.  It  is  a  sun 
without  a  spot,  a  fountain  of  eternal  truth,  of  which 
he  that  drinks  shall  live  forever.  Besides,  I  know  that 
it  is  true.  Burdened  with  guilt,  I  came  to  the  foot  of 
the  cross,  as  this  book  teaches ;  I  cast  my  sins  on  my 
Saviour,  and  rose  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  I 
carry  about  with  me,  therefore,  continually  the  evi- 
dence, —  God's  seal  set  to  his  own  word." 

Which  of  these  is  right  ?  Each  seems  to  be  satis- 
fied with  his  own  side,  says  he  knows  he  is  right; 
and,  of  course,  if  one  is  right,  the  rest  are  wrong. 

Suppose  we  take  up  some  practical  questions  that 
are  likely  to  come  before  us  in  daily  life,  and  observe 
how  these  various  rules  of  right  deal  with  them.  "  Is 
it  right  to  drink  intoxicating  drinks?'*  we  say  to  the 
Mohammedan.  "  No,  certainly  not,"  he  re  plies,  turning 
over  the  leaves  of  the  Koran,  and  reading  to  us  the 
following  passage:  *0  true  believers!  surely  wine 
and  lots  and  images  and  divining  arrows  are  an  abom- 
ination, and  of  the  work  of  Satan ;  therefore  avoid 
them  that  ye  may  prosper.' 


^fi 


I 


t 

i( 


188 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


"  That  is  sufficient,"  he  says.  "  God,  by  his  holy 
prophet,  has  forbidden  wine,  which  includes  every 
thing  that  intoxicates ;  and  no  true  believer  can  use 
it." 

"  What  do  you  think  on  that  subject,  Jew?"  —  "I 
cannot  learn  that  there  is  any  thing  wrong  in  the 
moderate  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  though  drunken- 
ness is  of  course  a  great  crime,  and  forbidden  by  oar 
holy  law." 

•  "  What  is  your  opinion  upon  that  subject? "  wo  say 
to  the  Christian.  "  Wrong,  sir,  wrong  decidedly,  and 
contrary  to  the  uniform  tenor  of  God's  word,  from 
Genesis  to  Revelations,  which  expressly  declares  that 
we  must  touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not,  the  unclean 
thing." 

"  That  is  not  so,"  says  a  gentleman  standing  by  his 
side,  who  overhears  our  conversation.  "  Pray,  what 
are  you,  sir?"  —  "I  am  a  believer  in  the  Bible  :  and  I 
say  that  the  whole  Bible,  from  Genesis  to  Revelations, 
sanctions  the  moderate  use  of  intoxicating  drinks ;  and 
it  is  only  their  abuse  that  is  forbidden."  —  "What 
shall  we  do  in  this  case  ?  "  I  say.  "  Go  to  the  Bible," 
replies  the  abstaining  Christian.  "  To  the  law  and  to 
the  testimony,"  says  the  little-drop  brother :  "  if  they 
speak  not  according  to  this  rule,  it  is  because  there  is 
no  light  in  them."  So  to  the  Bible  we  go ;  and,  after 
turning  over  several  of  its  pages,  we  at  length  come 
to  a  passage  referring  to  the  subject  that  we  are  con- 
sidering :  "  And  Noah  began  to  be  a  husbandman ;  and 
he  planted  a  vineyard  ;  and  ho  drank  of  the  wine, 
and  was  drunken."  (Gen.  ix.  20.)  Within  his  tent 
the  old  man  lay  uncovered ;  while  in  this  condition, 
his  younger  son  found  him,  and,  as  it  appears,  made 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


189 


sport  of  his  father,  who,  learning  the  fact,  on  awak- 
ing, cursed  his  offspring  most  bitterly.  And  some 
pious  divines  see  in  the  dark  faces  of  the  negroes, 
"  the  servile  progeny  of  Ham,"  the  consequence  of 
this  black  curse  of  Noah  to  this  day.  The  Bible  does 
not,  however,  inform  us  whether  Noah  did  right  or 
wrong  in  getting  drunk  or  in  drinking;  and  the  ques- 
tion is  left  very  much  as  we  found  it. 

We  proceed,  and  our  little-drop  friend  points  sig- 
nificantly to  the  case  of  Lot  as  one  having  some  bear- 
ing upon  the  question.  We  find,  on  reading,  that, 
before  the  "  fire-shower  of  ruin  "  descended  on  the 
doomed  cities  of  the  plain.  Lot  and  his  family  fled 
from  Sodom,  his  wife  being  turned  into  a  statue  of 
salt  on  the  way ;  and  he  and  his  two  daughters  dwelt 
in  a  cave  in  the  mountain.  Having  made  their  fa- 
ther drunk  with  wine,  he  committed  incest  with  one  of 
his  daughters,  and  on  the  next  evening  did  the  same 
rtiing  with  the  other.  (Gen.  xix.  30-38.)  Yet  not 
a  word  of  condemnation  is  uttered,  either  of  the  man, 
or  the  liquor  that  was  the  means  of  placing  him  in 
such  a  disgraceful  position :  he  is  styled  emphatically 
"just  Lot,"  and  a  "righteous  man."   (2  Pet.  ii.  7,  8.) 

"  If,"  says  the  moderate-drinking  Christian,  "  God 
had  not  intended  man  to  use  the  article,  this  was  just 
the  very  time  to  forbid  its  use,  and  preacli  your  tem- 
perance doctrine.  Before  you  reply  to  my  remarks," 
turning  to  his  temperance  brother,  "  let  me  refer  you 
to  one  express  passage  upon  the  subject,  that  ought 
to  set  the  question  at  rest  forever.  It  reads  thus: 
*Thou  sluilt  bestow  that  money  for  whatsoever  thy 
soul  lusteth  after:  for  oxen,  or  for  sheep,  or  for  wine, 
or  for  strong  drink.*   (Deut.  xiv.  26.)     Now,  if  a  man 


1 


190 


WHAT  IS  KIGHT? 


may  spend  his  money  for  these  articles,  he  certainly 
would  be  at  liberty  to  drink  them  after  so  doing .  it 
is  absurd  to  think  otherwise." 

"  My  dear  sir,"  replies  the  temperance  man,  "  you 
must  never  build  up  a  doctrine  on  an  isolated  passage 
of  Scripture :  after  that  fashion,  a  man  may  prove 
any  thing  from  the  Bible.     You  must  take  the  whole 
teuor  of  the  Scriptures,  from  one  end  to  the  other, 
and,  comparing  passage  with  passage,  thus  learn  what 
the  will  of  the  Lord  is.     Let  me  refer  you  to  some 
parts  of  the  Bible  having  an  important  bearing  on 
this  question.     Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  Sam- 
son, recorded  in  the  13th  chapter  of  Judges.     The 
children  of  Israel  had  been  in  bondage  to  the  Phi- 
listines for  forty  years,  and  the  Lord  sought  a  de- 
liverer for   them.     For  this   purpose   he   needed   a 
strongman,  — for  God  works,  you  know,  by  instru- 
ments: he  desired  to  put  the  strength  of  a  hundred- 
men's  arms  into  one  man's  arm, —  a  shepherd  of  miglft, 
that  could   rescue   his   sheep  from  the  jaws  of  the 
devouring  lion.     Now,  mark  how  he  does  this:  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  — that  is,  the  Lord's  messenger  — 
appears  to  Samson's  mother,  and  says  to  her,  *  Thou 
sbalt  conceive  and  bear  a  son.     Now,  therefore,  be- 
ware,  I  pray  thee,  and  drink  not  wine  nor  strong 
drink.^     And  to  her  husband  he  says,  '  She  may  not 
eat  of  any  thing  that  cometh  of  the  vine ;  neither  let 
her  drink  wine  nor  strong  drink.'     Why  these  strin- 
gent prohibitions?     Evidently  that  the  child   might 
be  free  from  alcoholic  taint,  ho  being  also  a  Nazarite 
from  the  womb  to  the  day  of  his  death.     Thus  did 
God  accomplish  his  purposes  by  the  strength  of  this 

mighty  abstainer,  and  deliver  the  Israelites  from  the 


/ 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


191 


Land  of  their  oppressors.  Nor  is  this  all :  God's  word 
abounds  with  passages  condemning  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cating drinks.  Let  us  hear  what  Solomon,  the  king 
ot  wise  men,  says,  *  Who  hath  woe  ?  who  hath  sor- 
row? who  hath  contentions?  who  hath  babbling? 
who  hath  wounds  without  cause  ?  who  hath  redness  of 
eyes?  They  that  tarry  long  at  the  wine,  they  that 
go  to  seek  mixed  wine.  Look  not  thou  upon  the 
wine  when  it  is  red,  when  it  giveth  its  color  in  the 
cup.  when  it  moveth  itself  aright:  at  the  last,  it 
biteth  like  a  serpent,  and  stingeth  like  an  adder.' 
(Prov.  xxiii.  29.)  What  can  be  plainer  than  this? 
No  abstainer  could  write  a  passage  more  strongly  for- 
bidding the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks.  You  must 
not  even  look  at  the  tempter,  lest  you  be  poisoned  by 
its  deadly  venom." 

"  Stop,  stop !  "  says  the  moderate  drinker.  "  I  can- 
not allow  you  to  rattle  along  in  that  way.  You  must 
remember  it  will  never  do  to  build  up  a  doctrine  on 
an  isolated  passage  of  Scripture ;  you  must  take  the 
whole  tenor  of  God's  Word,  from  one  end  to  the 
other:  that's  the  way  to  arrive  at  truth.  Solomon 
certainly  never  meant  what  you  want  to  wrest  from 
his  words ;  for,  turn  to  the  last  chapter  of  Proverbs 
and  read :  *  It  is  not  for  kings,  0  Lemuel  I  it  is  not 
for  kings,  to  drink  wine  ;  nor  for  princes  strong  drink. 
Give  strong  drink  unto  him  that  is  ready  to  perish, 
and  wine  unto  those  that  be  of  heavy  hearts.  Let 
him  drink,  and  forget  his  poverty,  and  remember  his 
misery  no  more.'  (Prov.  xxxi.  4-7.)  That  is  the 
doctrine.  You  see  it  is  kings  and  princes  that  are 
not  to  look  on  the  wine ;  those  are  the  men  that  are 
not  to  driuk :   but,  for  such  men  as  we,  there  is  no 


ii 


192 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


Buch  command.  When  our  hearts  are  heavy,  we  may 
drink,  and  forget  our  poverty,  and  remember  our  mis- 
ery no  more.  When  you  come  to  read  the  Bible 
understandingly,  you  will  find  this  to  be  its  tenor 

throughout." 

"  The  passage  that  you  appeal  to,"  says  his  oppo- 
nent, "only  refers  to  criminals   condemned   to  die, 
who  drank  till  they  were  stupid,  in  order  to  drown 
the  sense  of  their  miseries.     God's  holy  word  is  guilty 
of  no  such  contradictions  as  you  seem  to  make  it. 
Allow  me  to  refer  you  to  the  case  of  Daniel  and  the 
three  Hebrew  children,  as  one  bearing  out  the  glori- 
ous doctrine  of  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks. 
The  children  of  Israel  were  carried  off  captives  to 
Babylon.    Nebuchadnezzar,  desirous  of  having  the 
most  beautiful  and  intelligent  of  them  instructed  in 
the  language  and  learning  of  the  Chaldaeans,  com- 
mands the  master  of  the  eunuchs  to  search  them  out. 
He  does  so,  and  Daniel  and  the  three  Hebrew  chil- 
dren are  chosen.     The  king  appoints  them  a  certain 
portion  of  meat  from  his  table,  and  of  the  wine  that 
he  drank ;  but  they  refuse  the  king's  wine,  and  eat 
not  his  meat:  but  pulse  had  they  for  food,  and  water 
for  drink. 

•Yet  they  were  fatter  and  far  more  fair 
Than  any  among  their  fellows  there, 
And  surpassed  in  learning  and  wisdom,  too, 
Each  proud  Chaldaean  and  boastful  Jew.* 

"  See  how  the  blessing  of  God  followed  these  tem- 
perate young  men  I  Daniel  is  saved  from  the  hungry 
lions  ;  for  God  shut  their  mouths.  The  Hebrew  chil- 
dren  walk  unhurt  in  the  fiery  furnace  heated  seven 


n:-> 


WHAT  IS   RIGHT  ? 


193 


tiroes  hotter  than  it  was  wont  to  be;  not  even  the 
smell  of  fire  upon  their  garments.  What  better  evi- 
dence can  we  have  of  God's  blessing  crowning  the 
temperance  cause  ?  " 

"Allow  me  to  ask  you  a  question,"  says  the  drink- 
ing Christian.  "  Was  not  Jesus  Christ  a  greater 
person  than  Daniel?"  —  **0h,  certainly!  he  was  God 
Almighty,  who  came  down  from  heaven."  —  "Very 
well,  then,  the  example  of  Jesus  must  be  as  much 
more  important  than  Daniel's  as  God  is  greater  than 
man.  Now,  let  us  look  at  his  example  (John  ii. 
1-10.)  There  was  a  marriage  in  Canaof  Galilee,  and 
Jesus  and  his  disciples  were  invited  to  the  wedding. 
The  tables  are  spread  for  the  feast,  and  the  guests  sit 
down  to  partake :  the  wine  is  handed  round,  and,  be- 
fore the  feast  is  over,  it  is  all  gone  (not  many  of  your 
kind  of  people  there,  you  see).  The  mother  of  Jesus 
whispers  to  him,  ^  They  have  no  wine.'  There  were 
set  there  six  water-pots,  holding,  say  the  commenta- 
tors, about  a  hundred  and  twenty  gallons.  Jesus 
says,  '  Fill  them  with  water.'  They  fill  them  to  the 
brim.  '  Now  bear  out  to  the  governor  of  the  feast.' 
They  do  so,  and  the  governor  proclaims  it  good  wine. 

*  The  conscious  water  saw  its  Gkxi, 
And,  blushing,  turned  to  generous  wine.* 

Had  you  temperance  men  had  his  power,  you  would 
have  turned  all  the  wine  provided  for  the  feast  to 
water ;  but  "  he,  the  gracious  Lord  divine,  turns  sim- 
ple water  into  wine,"  and  by  so  doing  places  the  force 
of  his  holy  example  on  the  side  of  those  who  believe 
in  using  with  moderation  the  gifts  of  God's  bounty. 
When  about  to  leave  his  disciples,  they  took  a  last 

18 


|i 


194 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


Bupper  together ;  at  that  supper  they  had  bread  and 
wine.  Taking  the  cup  in  his  hand,  and  offering  it  to 
them,  he  said,  '  Drink  ye  all  of  it.'  (Matt.  xxvi.  27.) 
'  And  as  oft  as  ye  do  it,  do  it  in  remembrance  of  me/ 
(1  Cor.  xi.  25.)  And  I  never  take  a  glass  of  wino 
without  remembering  the  dying  Saviour.  But  you 
temperance  men,  by  your  doctrines,  cast  discredit  on 
the  Saviour  of  the  world ;  and,  if  he  were  here  now, 
you  would  look  down  upon  him  with  scorn  and  con- 
tempt: and  how  must  he  look  upon  you  in  the  last 
great  day  ?  Paul,  who  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
his  Master,  when  writing  to  Timothy,  one  of  your 
cold-water  men,  says  (1  Tim.  v.  23),  '  Drink  no  longer 
water,  but  use  a  little  wine  for  thy  stomach's  sake 
and  thine  often  infirmities.' " 

After  these  two  Christians  have  thus  fought  their 
way  through  the  Bible,  can  any  man  tell  on  which 
side  of  the  question  the  Bible  stands?  Is  it  not  on 
both  sides?  It  is  a  witness  as  ready  to  swear  for 
plaintiff  as  defendant;  a  guide  pointing  east  and  west 
at  the  same  time,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  be- 
wildered traveller.  Right  and  wrong  are  alternately 
on  the  sides  of  drinking  and  abstaining;  and  a  man 
who  seeks  for  information  in  the  Bible  on  this  subject 
is  farther  off  when  done  than  when  he  began.  And 
what  is  true  in  reference  to  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks  is  equally  true  in  reference  to  every  other 
practical  question  that  can  come  before  us. 

"Is  there  any  day  holier  than  another?"  I  say  to 
the  Mohammedan.  "Most  assuredly,"  he  replies 
"  What  day  is  it?  "  — "  Friday,  of  course :  every  child 
knows  that."  —  "  What  makes  Friday  so  much  better 
than  other  days?  "  — "  What  a  question,  0  infidel,  to 


« 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


195 


ask  I  Friday  is  the  day  on  which  God  ended  his  la 
bors,  and  rested  after  he  had  made  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  Friday  is  the  day  on  which  our  holy 
prophet  (blessed  be  his  name ! )  fled  from  Mecca  to 
Medina;  it  is  the  day  set  apart  by  the  Koran  as  the 
sabbath,  and  has  been  observed  by  our  Church  from 
the  earliest  times :  the  man  who  labors  on  that  day 
is  accursed  of  God." 

I  turn  to  the  Jew.  "What  do  you  think  upon  that 
subject?  "  —  "  There  is  no  holy  day,"  he  replies,  "  but 
Saturday.  Fridays  are  no  better  than  Sundays  ;  but 
Saturday,  the  seventh  day,  is  the  sabbath  of  the  Lord 
our  God,  on  which  no  manner  of  work  may  be  done." 
"What  makes  Saturday  so  much  better  than  other 
days  ?  "  —  "  Do  you  not  know  that  in  six  days  the  Lord 
made  heaven  and  earth,  and  rested  on  the  seventh, 
wherefore  he  blessed  and  hallowed  it?  In  his  law, 
delivered  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai,  he  gave  the  com- 
mand to  observe  this  day  as  a  holy  day  forever.  (Ex. 
xxxi.  13-16.)  And  what  God  commands,  man  must 
do." 

"  Whatdoyou  think  about  that.  Christian?"— "Well, 
sir,  of  keeping  Fridays  and  Saturdays  I  know  nothing. 
They  are  no  better  than  other  days  of  the  week  ;  but 
Sunday  is  the  Lord's  Day :  and  whoever  breaks  the 
sabbatli,  by  work  or  play,  does  it  at  the  peril  of  his 
soul ;  for  all  sabbath-breakers  shall  have  their  portion 
in  the  lake  that  burns  with  fire  and  brimstone."  —  "  But 
wherein  lies  the  peculiar  sanctity  of  the  Sunday?" 
''  Have  you  not  read  the  Bible,  sir,  God's  holy  word 
of  truth?  *  Remember  the  sabbath  day  to  keep  it 
holy.'"  —  "  Yes;  but  that  is  Saturday."  —  "  No,  it  is 
Sunday ;  for  the  day  has  been  changed  by  the  resur- 


l'' 

I 


ii 


196 


WHAT  IS  EIGHT? 


rection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week.^'  — ''  But,  as  he  rested  in  the  grave 
on  Saturday,  the  Jewish  sabbath  might  very  well 
have  been  retained."  — "  The  Church,  sir,  from  the 
earUest  times,  observed  the  first  day  of  the  week. 
On  that  day  the  disciples  met  to  break  bread ;  and, 
from  those  earliest  times  to  the  present,  the  Sunday 
has  been  observed  as  a  day  of  rest,  and  a  peculiarly 
holy  day,  by  all  classes  of  Christians  everywhere. 
John,  in  the  Revelation,  evidently  refers  to  it  when 
he  speaks  of  *  the  Lord's  Day.*  " 

"Is  thee  not  somewhat  mistaken  there?"    says  an 

old  gentleman  with  a  broad-brimmed   hat,  who  had 

entered  during  our  conversation.     "  I  am  a  Christian, 

and  a  believer  in  that  book  to  which  thee  has  been 

appealing,  and  I  find  no  such  doctrine  in  it  as  thee 

sets  forth.     I  find  Jesus  setting  at  nought  the  sab- 

bath  by  selecting  it  for  the  performance  of  his  most 

notable  miracles;  and,  when  chided  by  the  Pharisees, 

he  says,   ^  The  sabbath  was  mule  for  man,  and   not 

man  for  the  sabbath.     The  Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of 

the    sabbath  day.'     (Mark  ii.  27.)      He  never   com- 

manded  his  followers  to  observe  holy  days,  but  nailed 

all  their  ceremonial  observances  to  his  cross ;  for  they 

were  only  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come.     Paul 

says,  *One  man  esteemeth  one  day  above  another; 

another   regardeth   every  day  alike :  let  every  man 

be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.'    (Rom.  xiv.  5.) 

A.nd,  writing  to  the   Colossians,  in  the  spirit  of  his 

Master,  he  sa3^s,  ^  Let  no  man,  therefore,  judge  you  in 

meat  or  in  drink,  or  in  respect  of  an  holy  day,  or  of 

the  now  moon,  or  of  the  sabbath,  which  are  a  shadow 

of  things  to  come  ;   but  the  body  is  of  Christ.'    (Col. 


i 


WHAT  IS   RIGHT? 


197 


ii.  16.)  Now,  when  a  man  has  his  body,  he  never 
troubles  himself  to  look  after  his  shadow  ;  and  when 
Jesus,  the  body,  came  in  his  light  and  glory,  the  Jew- 
ish types  and  shadows  disappeared,  lost  in  his  re- 
splendent brightness.  In  writing  to  the  Galatians, 
Paul  says,  ^  Ye  observe  days  and  months  and  times : 
1  am  afraid  of  you  lest  I  have  bestowed  upon  you  la- 
bor in  vain.'  (Gal.  iv.  10-11.)  There  are  multitudes 
living  now  that  Paul  would  be  afraid  of  if  he  were 
here ;  for  they  have  departed  from  the  simplicity  of 
the  gospel  of  Jesus,  and  are  bowing  to  the  idols  that 
men  have  set  up."  So  says  this  Quaker  of  the  old 
school. 

If  these  men  are  to  be  believed,  the  Bible  is  a 
guide-board  pointing  in  three  different  directions,  for 
the  same  place,  at  the  same  time.  Saturday  is  the 
holy  day,  and  no  other  ;  Sunday  is  the  holy  day,  and 
must  be  observed  ;  and  no  day  is  holier  than  another, 
but  all  are  alike  good.  What  shall  the  traveller  do 
who  finds  these  contradictory  directions  ?  Is  this  the 
road  that  is  so  plain  that  a  wayfaring  man,  though  a 
fool,  need  not  err  therein  ? 

If  we  take  any  other  practical  question,  we  find 
the  same  difficulty  in  deciding  what  is  right  or  wrong 
by  any  sacred  book  that  may  have  been  adopted 
as  a  standard.  Should  a  man  have  more  wives  than 
one  ?  The  Mohammedan  replies  yes,  at  once :  his 
prophet  had,  and  his  holy  book  permits  polygamy. 
The  Jew  says  it  was  allowed  by  God  at  one  time,  but 
is  no  longer  permitted.  We  ask  the  Christian  ;  but  he 
stares  with  astonishment  tliat  we  should  ask  him  such 
a  question.  "One  man  and  one  woman  united  to- 
gether for  life  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  taught 


■i 


I 


i 


i/i 


198 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


most  explicitly  throughout  the  pages  of  that  blessed 
book ;  and  no  Christian  for  a  moment  doubts  it." 

"  You  are  mistaken,  sir,"  exclaims  the  Mormon  : 
"  on  the  contrary,  polygamy  is  plainly  taught  in  the 
Scriptures,  as  practised  in  our  Church  at  the  present 
time,"  — *'  How  can  you  say  so?  "  replies  the  Monoga- 
mist.  "  The  Bible  is  opposed  to  such  a  doctrine 
from  Genesis  to  Revelation.  Just  turn  to  the  ac- 
count of  creation  as  given  in  Genesis,  and  what  can 
be  plainer  than  the  dual  relation  between  the  sexes 
there  declared,  as  established  by  God  himself?  Adam 
being  created,  and  placed  in  Eden's  flowery  garden, 
the  beasts  were  brought  to  him  to  name  ;  and,  as  tli^y 
marched  before  him,  from  the  mouse  to  the  monkey, 
he  gave  them  appropriate  names,  but  sought  in  vain 
for  a  companion.  God,  compassionating  Adam  in  his 
lonely  condition,  cast  him  into  a  deep  sleep,  extracted 
one  of  his  ribs,  and  of  this  made  a  woman,  and  brought 
her  unto  Adam.  Had  polygamy  been  right  for  man, 
then  was  the  time  for  it  to  be  made  manifest.  God 
could  just  as  easily  have  taken  out  two  or  three  ribs, 
and  made  as  many  women  of  them,  as  to  take  one ; 
but,  in  his  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness,  he  makes  of 
one  rib  one  woman,  a  companion  for  Adam  for  life. 
By  what  sophistries  can  you  set  aside  these  explicit 
revelations  ?  " 

"  You  don't  understand  the  Bible,  sir :  you  are 
blind  to  the  beauty  of  its  glorious  teachings.  Do  you 
not  know,  sir,  that,  through  all  Nature,  every  thing  has 
a  small  beginning,  however  mighty  it  may  become  ? 
First  wc  have  the  germ  peeping  above  the  ground, 
then  the  sapling,  and  in  the  end  the  giant  oak.  First 
the  spring,  then  the  rill,  the  streamlet,  and  the  river. 


I 


\ 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


199 


This  is  God's  method  of  working ;  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising  that  the  statements  of  the  Bible,  God's  holy 
word,  should  harmonize  with  it.     Adam  had  one  wife 
by  God's   appointment:  that  is  true,  and  what  we 
should  reasonably  expect.     God  could  not  have  given 
him  less,  and,  in  accordance  with  his  natural  law,  we 
could  not  expect  him  to  give  more.     But  mark,  as  we 
advance  along  the  line  of  the  eminent  worthies  whom 
God  has  chosen  to  honor  in  his  sacred  word,  how  the 
stream  widens  and  deepens.     Abraham,  who  was  *  the 
father  of  the  faithful,  and  the  friend  of  God,'  had  one 
wife  Sarah,  and  another  Ilagar.    (Gen.  xvi.  3.)    And, 
when  Sarah  died,  he  took  another  (Keturah),  so  as 
to  keep  up  his  number,  two.     (Gen.  xxv.  1.)     Jacob, 
farther  along   the  line,  married  two  wives,  his  own 
first  cousins,  daughters  of  his  Uncle  Laban  ;  and  then 
had  children  by  their  two  handmaids,  making  his  num- 
ber four.     Gideon,  a  man  of  the  Lord,  by  whom  he 
delivered  Israel,  and  one  of  Paul's  cloud  of  witnesses, 
must  have  had  at  least  ten  wives ;  for  the  Bible  informs 
us  that  he  had  many  wives  and  seventy  sons.    (Judg. 
viii.  80.)     Then  David,  the  'man  after  God's  own 
heart,'    the   man  who,   we   are    told    by   God    him- 
self, never  did  wrong  in  his  life  but  once  (and  that 
was  in  the  matter  of  Uriah),  takes  to  himself  a  num- 
ber of  wives ;  and,  when  Saul  dies,  the  blessed  Bible 
declares   that  *  God   gave  to   him   the  wives  of  his 
master  Saul   into  his  bosom.'   (2  Sam.  xii.  8.)      Do 
not  you  begin  to  see  how  naturally  and  beautifully 
this  blessed  system  of  polygamy  grows?  —  Adam  one, 
Abraham  two,  Jacob  four,  Gideon  ten,  David  twenty 
or  thirty,  and,  lastly,  Solomon,  tlie  wisest  man  that 
over  lived  or  ever  shall  live,  with  his  seven  hundred 


1 


200 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


wives  and  three  hundred  concubines.  In  him  hu- 
manity culminated  ;  and  from  that  time  men  went 
downward  and  backward,  till  Joseph  Smith,  the 
prophet  of  the  Lord,  arose  and  brought  iu  the  glory 
of  the  latter  day.  The  Bible  is  full  of  beauty  when 
properly  understood,  but  in  the  hands  of  the  wilful 
and  ignorant  is  like  a  sharp  sword,  that  cuts  the  hand 
of  him  who  knows  not  how  to  wield  it." 

"  Filthy  wretches  I  to  pervert  the  word  of  God  in 
order  to  pander  to  your  depraved  appetites,"  says  a 
tall,  pale,overcoated,  broad-brimmcd-hatted  gentleman, 
who  has  been  listening  attentively  to  the  discussion. 
"  Who  are  you? "  exclaim  both  with  one  breath.  "  I 
am  a  Shaker,  gentlemen,  and  a  devout  believer  in  the 
truths  of  that  blessed  volume  that  you  wrest  to  your 
own  destruction  :  and  I  say  that  the  Bible  teaches,  by 
example  and  precept,  that  marriage  is  one  of  the  most 
prolific  sources  of  evil ;  and  that,  as  God's  children, 
we  should  abstain  from  it.  Go  to  the  garden  of  Eden, 
and  what  do  you  find  ?  A  paradise  of  delights.  Every 
thing  that  is  pleasant  to  the  eye  and  useful  for  food  is 
there.  No  earthquake  heaves  the  ground,  no  volcano 
opens  its  fiery  mouth ;  but  the  angel  of  peace  holds 
dominion  over  the  world.  The  lion  and  the  tiger,  the 
lamb  and  the  kid,  lie  side  by  side  together,  and  there 
is  nothing  to  hurt  or  destroy.  But  mark  the  change  I 
Adam,  dissatisfied,  desires  a  helpmeet ;  and  no  sooner 
does  she  come  than  misery  comes  as  her  companion. 
When  woman  came,  the  Devil  came  ;  and  then  came 
death  and  all  our  woe.  The  fair  fiice  of  Nature  be- 
came seamed  with  yawning  chasms,  earthquakes  shook 
the  world,  and  volcanoes  poured  out  desolating  floods  ; 
tJie  lion  fleshed  his  teeth  in  the  innocent  lamb,  and  the 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


201 


i 


tiger,  seizing  the  kid,  rent  it  in  pieces;  the  soul 
of  man  was  dyed  by  sin  as  black  as  hell,  and  nothing 
but  the  blood  of  God  could  wash  it  out.  Abraham 
has  two  wives  ;  but  their  quarrels  imbitter  his  exist 
ence :  and,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  he  is  compelled  to 
turn  one  of  them  with  her  child  out  of  doors  into  the 
wilderness.  Jacob  the  shepherd,  keeping  the  sheep 
of  his  uncle  Laban,  is  a  lovely  character,  dreaming  of 
heaven  and  angels,  and  communing  with  God ;  but 
with  his  marriage  commences  his  misery.  His  wives 
quarrel;  iiis  children  are  robbers  and  murderers,  and 
even  conspire  against  the  life  of  their  brother,  till  the 
old  man,  in  the  anguish  of  his  heart,  exclaims,  ^  Ye 
will  bring  down  my  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the 
grave.'  David's  wives  vex  his  righteous  soul,  and 
Bathsheba  leads  him  to  the  commission  of  that  terri- 
ble crime  that  blots  his  whole  life.  His  beloved  son 
makes  war  against  his  father,  and  is  slain  ;  David,  in 
his  soul's  agony,  exclaiming,  *  0  Absalom  !  my  son, 
my  son  I  Would  God  I  had  died  for  thee,  0  Ab- 
salom, my  son  ! '  Even  Solomon,  the  wisest  man,  is 
dragged  down  from  the  throne  of  his  glory  by  his 
wives  and  concubines,  who  turned  his  heart  from  the 
Lord ;  and  he  gives  us  the  result  of  his  wide  expe- 
rience in  the  mournful  words,  '  A  man  in  a  thousand 
have  I  found,  but  a  woman  in  a  thousand  have  I  not 
found.'  'Vanity  of  vanities  ;  all  is  vanity,  and  vexa- 
tion of  spirit.'  Come  down  to  the  New  Testament; 
and  Jesus  our  Lord  and  Master,  who  set  us  an  exam- 
ple that  we  should  tread  in  his  steps,  was  never  mar- 
ried ;  and  he  says,  (oh  that  mankind  would  read  and 
understand !)  'He  that  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust 
after  her  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in 


202 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


his  heart.'  Paul,  who  trod  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
divine  Master,  was  no  husband  to  any  woman,  no 
father  to  any  child,  and  desired  others  to  follow  him, 
as  he  followed  Jesus.  When  John  the  revelator  had 
those  sublime  visions  in  the  Isle  of  Patraos,  he  saw  a 
hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  around  the  throne  of 
God,  who  were  singing  day  and  night  unto  him. 
John  inquires  who  these  favored  few  are,  who  thus 
approach  the  throne,  and  on  whom  God's  smile  rests 
continually;  and  the  answer  is, —  mark  it, — 'These  are 
they  that  were  not  defiled  with  women.'  (Rev.  xvi. 
4.)  In  other  words,  they  were  Shakers  ;  and  we  shall 
bask  in  the  sunshine  of  God's  glory,  when  filthy  sin- 
ners like  you  will  be  compelled  to  stand  afar  off." 

So  argue  Bible  believers ;  and  no  wonder,  while 
they  follow  such  a  guide,  who  stands  at  life's  cross- 
roads, with  as  many  hands  as  a  Hindoo  god;  his  fin- 
gers directing  to  every  point  of  the  compass,  while  ho 
exclaims^  "  That  is  the  way  to  life  ! '' 

Does  it  point  slavery-ward  ?  "  No  such  thing,*'  said 
the  North,  and  shouted  itself  hoarse  in  repeating, "  *  Do 
unto  another  as  ye  would  that  another  should  do  unto 
you.'  *  Call  no  man  master ;  for  one  is  your  master, 
even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren.'  'Woe  unto 
him  that  useth  his  neighbor's  service  without  wages, 
and  giveth  him  not  for  his  work.'  *  The  stranger 
that  dwelleth  with  you  shall  be  unto  you  as  one  born 
among  you,  and  thou  shalt  love  him  as  thyself.' "  "  How 
plain  I "  said  the  antislavery  minister.  "  None  but 
those  blinded  by  avarice  can  help  seeing  how  God 
frowns  upon  the  damnable  traffic  in  the  souls  of  human 
beings,  and  how  his  Word  is  laid  like  an  axe  at  the 
root  of  this  tree  of  misery." 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


203 


"  The  Almighty  Maker  of  the  universe,"  said  the 
Southern  slaveholder,  "  is  ever  the  same.    He  never 
commands  in  one  age  what  he  forbids  in  another,  nor 
blesses  at  one  time  what  he  curses  and  denounces  at 
other  times  ;  and  he  has  said  in  his  Word, '  Both  thy 
bondmen  and  bondmaids  which  thou  shalt  have  shall  bo 
of  the  heathen  that  are  round  about  you  ;  of  them  shall 
ye  buy  bondmen  and  bondmaids,  and  ye  shall  take 
them  as  an  inheritance  for  your  children  after  you,  to 
inherit  them  for  a  possession :    they  shall  be  your 
bondmen  forever.'   (Lev.  xx v.  44-46.)     None  of  your 
antislavery  and  abolition  in  the  Bible,  but  there  we 
have   God's  charter,  signed,  sealed,  and  delivered; 
our  rights  guaranteed  by  the  great  /  Am  forever. 
Abraham  the  friend  of  God,  Jacob  his  intimate  com- 
panion,  and  David  his  beloved,  all  held  slaves ;  and 
Jesus,  finding  the  institution  of  slavery  everywhere 
through   Palestine,  never  said  one  word  against  its 
continuance.     Paul  not  only  recognizes  slavery,  but 
regulates   it,  when   he  says,  '  Servants,  obey  in   all 
things  }'our  masters,  according  to  the  flesh ;  not  with 
eye-service,  as  men-pleasers,  but  in  singleness   of 
heart,  fearing  God.'     Masters  are  to  give  unto  their 
servants  what  is  just  and  equal.     No  word  of  denun- 
ciation   of  the  institution,  nothing  of  abolition ;  but 
the  ridit  of  the  master  is  recognized,  and  the  duty 
of  the  servant  prescribed." 

On  this,  as  on  all  practical  questions,  tJ.ie  Bible  is 
double-tongued,  and  is  therefore  no  true  moral  guide. 
What,  then,  shall  the  traveller  do  ?  Is  there  no 
pole-star  in  the  heavens,  fixed  immovably,  while 
around  the  shifting  lights  revolve?  Is  man  left  to 
tread  the  wilderness  in  midnight  darkness,  with  noth- 


4 


204 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


ing  to  dispel  the  gloom  around  his  tortuous  pathway 
but  the  flash  of  a  meteor,  or  the  uncertain  light  of  the 
ig'nis  fatuis  ?  There  is  a  pole-star  for  the  mariner,  a 
highway  for  the  traveller,  with  daylight  to  guide  him, 
and  men  need  not  drive  on  shoals,  flounder  in  bogs,  or 
move  slowly  in  darkness  with  fear  and  trembling. 
That  is  right  which  is  for  humanity's  benefit  ;  that 

IS  WRONG  which   IS   OPPOSED  TO   THE  WELFARE   OF   THE 

HUMAN  RACE.  It  is  uot  presumable  that  we  can  add 
to  the  happiness  or  diminish  the  enjoyment  of  God  ; 
but  our  deeds  constantly  influence  ourselves  and  our 
fellows  for  good  and  evil.  To  know  what  actions 
are  productive  of  good  or  evil,  we  need  to  use  our 
judgment,  aided  by  all  the  light  that  science  can 
bestow. 

Let  us  try  by  this  rule  the  various  questions  that 
have  come  before  us.  Is  it  right  or  wrong  to  use  in- 
toxicating drinks  ?  The  basis  of  all  intoxicating  drinks 
is  alcohol :  it  is  this  in  them  that  makes  them  intoxi- 
cating. Rum  and  brandy  contain  a  large  quantity, 
while  beer  and  hard  cider  contain  but  little.  What  is 
this  alcohol  ?  we  inquire  of  science  ;  and  the  answer 
is,  an  acrid  poison.  Then  intoxicating  liquors  are 
poisonous  in  proportion  to  the  alcohol  that  they  con- 
tain, and  as  such  are  at  war  with  the  healthy  opera- 
tions of  the  human  system.  The  man  in  health  who 
uses  them  violates  the  law  that  governs  his  physi- 
cal organism ;  and  no  amount  of  prayer  or  Bible  read- 
ing can  absolve  the  sinner  from  the  consequences  of 
his  deeds.  The  headache  that  admonishes  the  mod- 
erate drinker,  the  diseased  body  that  the  drunkard 
carries  with  him  continually,  are  much  more  effectual 
t^xts  than  "  Thus  siiith  the  Lord,''  in  Bible  or  in  Koran. 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


205 


Texts  are  they  written  in  an  ever-living  language, 
understood  by  men  of  every  tongue. 

Intoxicating  drinks  are  injurious  to  those  who  use 
them ;  at  war  with  the  health  of  the  body  and  strength 
of  the  mind ;  stimulating  to  physical  and  mental  ac 
tivity  for  a  time,  it  is  true,  but  using  the  strength  of 
to-morrow  to-day,  and  demanding  for  its  use  a  fearful 
interest,  that  soon  bankrupts  the  foolish  borrower. 
Hence  we  apply  our  rule,  and  decide  that  it  is  not 
right  to  use  intoxicating  drinks.  "  But  your  rule," 
says  an  objector,  *'  leads  no  more  to  unanimity  of 
opinion  than  the  Bible.  Men  who  do  not  make  the 
Bible  their  guide  differ  in  opinion  on  this  subject  as 
much  as  those  who  do."  To  those  who  are  governed 
by  it,  it  does.  Multitudes  never  investigate  the  sub- 
ject :  some  who  do  have  a  strong  appetite  for  intoxi- 
cating drinks  that  hinders  clear  vision,  As  people 
become  intelligent,  opinion  on  this  subject  becomes 
more  unanimous,  and  tliere  is  no  doubt,  that,  event- 
ually, the  use  of  these  drinks  will  be  abandoned. 

Is  one  day  holier  than  another?  The  conflicting 
testimony  of  so-called  holy  books  can  never  give  a 
reasonable  answer  to  this  question  ;  but  Nature's  am- 
ple and  consistent  page  contains  a  satisfactory  reply. 
1  work  for  six  or  eight  hours  daily  on  my  farm,  and 
note  carefully  the  condition  of  my  system  on  the  va- 
J  ious  days  of  the  week.  1  do  this  for  a  whole  year  ; 
and  I  And  that  labor  agrees  with  my  physical  and 
mental  constitution  on  every  day  of  the  week.  Fri- 
days are  no  more  consecrated  to  rest  by  Nature  than 
Saturdays ;  Sundays  than  Mondays.  The  corn  I  plant 
on  Sunday  grows  as  well  as  that  planted  on  Monday ; 
the  rains  refuse  not  to  fall  upon  it,  nor  the  sun  to 


206 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


shine  upon  it.  On  every  day  the  grass  grows,  the 
water  flows,  gayly  blows  the  breeze,  the  sap  clirabs  up 
the  trees.  Sunday  puts  no  brake  on  the  world's 
wheels ;  but  the  sound  of  the  rushing  sphere  comes 
humming  into  the  church  on  Sunday,  as  into  the 
synagogue  on  Saturday.     Nature  knows  no  red-letter 

days. 

The  man  who  invented  the  sabbath  evidently  sup. 
posed  the  world  to  be  flat.    When  the  sun  went  down, 
it  was  night  all  over  the  world  ;  and,  when  he  rose,  day 
was  everywhere.     Not  otherwise  could  all  the  people 
of  the  world  observe  the  same  portion  of  time.     At 
six  o'clock  on  Sunday  evening,  the  Christian  minister 
in  this  country  gives  out  his  text,  "  Remember  the 
sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy,"  and  solemnly  denounces 
the  violators  of  the  holy  day  who  do  their  own  work, 
and  obey  not  the  divine  record ;  and  at  the  very  same 
time  his  Christian  brethren  in  China  are  swinging 
their  axes,  driving  their  planes,  and  wielding  their 
hammers,  for  it  is  Monday  morning  with  them.     If  we 
would  but  climb  the  mountain,  sun  ourselves  in  the 
daylight,  and  let  the  wind  blow  the  cobwebs  out  of 
our  eyes,  we  might  read  this  truthful  Scripture,  "All 
days  are  thine,  man :  use  them  for  thy  good."     No 
tyrannical  monarch  sits  in  state,  watching  with  scowl- 
ing brow  the  little  boys  who  play  on  Sunday,  striking 
one  with  lightning,  and  drowning  another. 

There  is  a  time  of  rest  marked  by  Nature,  which 
none  can  disregard  with  impunity.  It  is  when  the 
Bun  sinks,  and  the  curtain  of  night  is  drawn  around 
the  world ;  when 


u 


Tlie  daisies  have  shut  up  their  sleepy  red  eyes, 
And  the  bees  and  the  birds  are  at  rest." 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


207 


Then  sleep,  like  an  angel,  closes  the  laborer's  eyes, 
and  his  soul  wanders  ofl"  into  heaven.  Abstain  from 
sleep  to-night,  and  to-morrow  you  feel  faint  and  lan- 
guid. Try  it  to-morrow  night,  and  the  pain  you  will 
sufler  will  teach  you  the  necessity  of  obeying  the  laws 
that  Nature  makes.  It  is  said  that  Napoleon's  sol- 
diers, in  the  retreat  from  Moscow,  slept  on  the  march. 
So  well  does  Nature  provide  for  obedience  to  her 
commands,  that  disobedience  is  almost  impossible. 
This  is  the  only  sabbath  that  Nature  imposes:  all 
others  are  of  man's  manufacture. 

Indiscriminate  intercourse  between  the  sexes  pro- 
duces the  foulest  diseases,  and  its  mental  and  moral 
efiects  are  most  disastrous.  Polygamy  debases  wo- 
man, and  degrades  and  brutalizes  man.  If  one  man 
appropriates  to  himself  a  dozen  wives,  he  is  a  tyrant, 
and  they  his  slaves.  If  many  men  were  to  do  it, 
many  of  their  brethren  would  be  robbed  of  the  hap- 
piness that  flows  from  congenial  companionship  with 
woman.  Monogamy  is  evidently  the  law  of  Nature ; 
and  when  two  congenial  souls  are  truly  united  theirs 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

What  are  the  efiects  of  slavery  ?  Does  it  elevate 
mankind  ?  Is  it  a  blessing  to  the  race  ?  Its  very 
defenders  acknowledge  that  it  is  a  curse.  In  conse- 
quence of  it,  comes  to  the  white  man  idleness,  that 
eats  away  his  manhood  like  a  canker-worm ;  cruelty, 
that  enthrones  the  beast  in  his  soul ;  and  fear,  that 
holds  a  dagger  before  his  eyes  continually:  to  the 
colored  man,  a  prison-house  for  his  mind,  from  which 
the  light  of  knowledge  is  carefully  excluded ;  a  stag- 
nation of  soul  that  breeds  pestilence  and  crime.  It 
is  accursed,  let  it  die,  says  Nature  ;  and  die  it  will. 


208 


WHAT  IS  EIGHT  ? 


For  want  of  this  principle  by  which  to  distinguish 
right  from  wrong,  the  world  is  most  sadly  cursed. 
We  have  artificial  virtues  and  artificial  vices  without 
number.  Men  are  trained  to  believe  that  certain  ac- 
tions are  right,  nay,  imperative,  that  have  no  tenden- 
cy  to  benefit  the  doer  or  his  neighbors ;  while  they  are 
trained  to  carefully  abstain  from  doing  what  would  be 
of  decided  benefit. 

The  faculty  of  conscience  is  blind,  and  never  en- 
ables a  man  to  know  whether  actions  are  right  or 
wrong:  it  only  induces  us  to  do  that  which  the  judg- 
ment has  decided  to  be  right.  The  Hindoo  devotee 
holds  his  closed  hand  above  his  head  in  a  fixed  posi- 
tion till  the  nails  grow  through  his  hand,  and  the  mus- 
cles of  his  arm  become  so  rigid  that  it  is  impossible 
to  bend  it.  The  torture  thus  inflicted  upon  the  body 
he  is  taught  to  believe  is  so  much  virtue  placed  to 
tne  account  of  his  soul ;  and  his  conscience  assists 
nim  in  bearing  the  pain.  The  Mohammedan  derviso 
Jances  and  howls  by  the  hour,  not  because  his  dan- 
cing and  howling  benefit  either  himself  or  others,  but 
to  propitiate  God,  and  obtain  favors  from  him.  We 
need  not  travel  far  to  find  instances  of  a  somewhat 
similar  kind  in  what  wo  are  pleased  to  call  an  "  en- 
lightened land." 

Here  is  a  baby  held  in  the  arms  of  a  gentleman, 
who  utters  some  words  over  it,  as  if  for  a  charm,  and 
then  sprinkles  water  in  its  face  till  it  cries ;  all  parties 
looking  on  with  the  greatest  seriousness. 

It  i*»  winter,  and  cold  in  the  extreme.  A  hole  has 
been  at  in  the  ice,  and  in  the  water  stands  another 
gentleman,  a  crowd  of  lookers-on  surrounding  tho 
spot,  attracted  by  the  singular  spectacle.    He  dips 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


209 


overhead  twenty  or  thirty  people,  two-thirds  of  them 
women  or  girls ;  and  with  stiffened  clothes  and  chatter- 
ing teeth  they  make  their  way  to  some  neighboring 
house.  Who  is  benefited?  The  water  is  no  purer, 
the  people  no  cleaner,  the  gentleman  no  warmer,  the 
world  no  wiser. 

A  hundred  people  are  gathered  in  a  Christian  place 
of  worship.  It  is  communion-day.  The  minister 
discourses  about  a  young  man  who  was  put  to  death 
more  than  eighteen  centuries  ago,  who,  he  says,  was 
God.  He  then  hands  to  them  cups  filled  with  wine, 
and  plates  containing  pieces  of  bread,  and  tells  them  to 
eat  and  drink ;  assuring  them,  as  they  do,  that  they 
are  eating  the  flesh  and  drinking  the  blood  of  this 
young  man  who  died  so  long  ago,  though  the  bread 
was  made  by  the  baker,  and  the  wine  is  generally 
some  villanous  compound  concocted  by  the  wine-mer- 
chant. 

Artificial  virtues  that  are  no  virtues,  that  make  no 
Boul  wiser  or  better,  purer  or  happier,  take  the  place 
of  manliness,  intelligence,  and  use.  Human  beings 
meet  by  thousands,  and  cry  to  deaf  gods ;  they  build 
sumptuous  temples,  and  employ  men  to  retail  to  them 
ancient  fables,  while  they  sternly  reject  living  and 
important  facts. 

Artificial  vices  go  side  by  side  with  artificial  vir- 
tues. Your  hired  man  is  a  Catholic.  It  is  Friday,  and 
the  church  says  no  meat  shall  be  eaten.  A  round 
of  beef  is  on  the  table;  Patrick  has  been  laboring 
hard,  and  hunger  has  shortened  his  memory ;  cut 
after  cut  disappears,  till  the  thought  flashes  like  light- 
ning  into  his  mind,  —  it  is  Friday  I  Down  drop  knife 
and  fork,  and  remorse  of  conscience  supplies  the  re. 

14 


I 


I 


210 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT  ? 


mainder  of  the  meal.  On  Sunday  he  is  off  to  confes- 
sional. He  kneels,  "0  father,  I  have  committed  a 
great  sin."  —  ^'What  is  it,  my  son?"  says  the  priest, 
who  thinks  of  nothing  less  than  murder.  "  I  ate  some 
beef  on  Friday."  The  priest  prescribes  a  light  pen- 
ance, and  away  goes  Patrick  rejoicing,  while  he  rolls 
over  a  large  quid  of  tobacco,  and  chews  with  double 
force  for  joy.  It  is  all  right  to  chew  tobacco  ;  but  to 
eat  meat  on  Friday  —  what  a  deadly  sin  ! 

A  company  of  Methodists  have  met  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  church  at  class-meeting.  The  leader 
asks  them  one  by  one  how  it  is  with  their  souls,  till 
he  arrives  at  a  poor  widow,  left  with  four  young  chil- 
dren and  a  heritage  of  woo.  She  tells  with  trem- 
bling voice  of  her  many  shortcomings :  she  does  the 
things  she  ought  not  to  do,  and  leaves  undone  the 
things  she  ought  to  do ;  she  begs  an  interest  in  their 
prayers,  that  she  may  grieve  her  God  no  more  by 
wandering  from  him,  but  move  steadily  on  to  Zion 
with  her  face  thitherward.  What  has  this  poor  soul 
done?  What  are  the  sins  that  she  has  committed, 
the  remembrance  of  which  overwhelms  her  like  a 
flood  ?  Fatigued  with  hard  labor  for  herself  and 
darlings,  she  slept  without  first  praying,  and  thought 
of  her  children  in  the  morning  before  she  thought  of 
her  God.  She  heard  a  dull,  prosy  sermon  last  Sun- 
day, and  went  to  sleep  (the  best  possible  thing  she 
could  do  under  the  circumstances) ;  and,  bearing  the 
burden  of  such  artificial  sins  as  these,  she  goes  mourn- 
ing all  her  days. 

Thousands  are  made  miserable  by  their  violation 
of  commands  that  they  were  never  under  any  obliga- 
tion to  obey,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  are  ruined  by 


WHAT  IS  RIGHT? 


211 


disobeying  what  Nature  commands,  of  which  they  are 
generally  ignorant. 

Let  us  study  the  effect  of  our  actions  upon  our- 
selves and  our  neighbors ;  and  what  conduces  to  true 
permanent  happiness  let  us  perform.  Here  are  the 
ignorant ;  let  us  enlighten  them  by  all  the  means  in 
our  power.  Here  are  our  neighbors,  suffering,  dy- 
ing; let  us  assist  and  relieve  them.  Man  needs  our 
assistance,  and  all  that  we  can  give.  Blessed  is  he 
that  applies  his  life  to  this  work  I  In  this  world  he 
has  peace  and  joy,  and  in  the  world  to  come  the  happi- 
ness that  legitimately  springs  from  well-doing,  and  that 
cannot  be  sepai-atcd  from  it. 


/ 


I 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


'' 


If  Christianitj,  as  taught  in  our  evangelical  churches, 
is  true,  the  most  important  question  that  one  man  can 
ask  anotlier  is,  Are  you  a  Christian  ?  Next  to  this  in 
importance  must  be  the  question.  What  constitutes 
a  Christian  ? 

Noah  Webster  says  that  a  Cliristian  is  one  who 
believes  in  Christ,  and  "  especially  one  whose  inward 
and  outward  life  is  conformed  to  the  doctrines  of 
Ciirist."  According  to  this,  there  are  two  classes  of 
Christians,  —  a  general  class  who  believe,  and  a  spe- 
cial class  who  believe,  and  whose  life  accords  with,  the 
doctrines  or  teachings  of  Jesus.  To  the  first  class 
belong,  probably,  three-fourths  of  all  the  people  of  Chris- 
tian countries,  —  England,  France,  Germg^iy,  Spain, 
Italy,  indeed,  of  Europe  generally,  and  the  United 
States.  They  regard  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  the  sent 
of  God,  the  Christ,  and  tliink  that  salvation  can  only 
come  by  him.  They  are  Christians,  as  Turks  are 
Mohammedans. 

Christians,  then,  fill  our  prisons,  almshouses,  luna- 
tic-asylums, and  houses  of  prostitution.  Our  thieves 
are  Christian  thieves,  and  our  murderers  Christian 

215 


216 


WHO  ABE  CHBISTIANS? 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


217 


murderers.  How  rare  it  is  for  infidels  to  be  convicted 
of  theft,  or  hung  for  murder !  On  the  gallows  it  is  tlie 
name  of  Jesus  the  Christ  that  gives  consolation  to 
the  dying  criminal ;  and  he  expects,  with  the  repent- 
ant thief,  to  be  with  him  in  Paradise.  The  late  riots 
in  New  York  were  Christian  riots.  Our  rowdies 
swear  Christian  oaths;  and,  when  tlie  dcath-angel 
appears  to  call  them,  they  send  for  a  Christian  priest 
to  prepare  them  for  their  departure. 

Constantino  the  Great  was  a  Christian,  —  he  who 
murdered  his  son  Crispus  and  his  nephew  Licinus,  and 
suffocated  his  wife  Faustus  in  a  bath:  he  may  be 
regarded,  indeed,  as  the  founder  of  our  present  Chris- 
tian sabbath.  Theodosius  I.,  another  Roman  emperor, 
who  murdered  in  cold  blood  seven  thousand  of  the 
inhaJbitants  of  Thessalonica,  without  distinction  of  age, 
was  a  zealous  and  orthodox  Christian ;  and  so  was 
Leo  TIL,  who  commanded  every  person  in  his  domin- 
ions to  be  baptized,  under  pain  of  banishment,  and 
sentenced  those  to  death  who  relapsed  into  idolatry 
after  the  ceremony. 

Those  men  of  Alexandria  who  murdered  Hypatia 
were  Christians  to  a  man.  Though  she  gave  public 
lectures  on  philosophy,  and  proved  herself  to  be  one 
of  the  most  noble  women  of  her  time,  yet  the  Christian 
jjionks  and  rowdies,  headed  by  a  Christian  priest, 
seized  her  in  the  street,  dragged  her  into  a  Christian 
Church,  stripped  her  naked,  whipped  her,  cut  her  in 
pieces,  and  burned  her  mangled  remains  in  the  market- 
place. 

Peter  the  Hermit  was  a  famous  Christian :  clad  in 
rags,   and   bare-footed,   he   wandered   up   and   down 


Europe,  stirring  up  his  fellow-Christians  to  rescue  the 
Holy  Land  from  the  hands  of  the  infidel  Turks.  Mil- 
lions rallied  to  his  call.  "  Their  track,"  says  Draper, 
"  was  marked  by  robbery,  bloodshed,  and  fire."  When 
they  captured  Jerusalem,  "  the  brains  of  young  chil- 
dren were  dashed  out  against  the  walls ;  infants  were 
pitched  over  the  battlements ;  every  woman  that  could 
be  seized  was  violated  ;  men  were  roasted  at  fires ;  some 
ripped  up  to  see  if  they  had  swallowed  gold.  The 
Jews  were  driven  into  their  synagogues,  and  burned  ; 
and  nearly  seventy  thousand  persons  were  massacred." 

Father  Dominic,  who  founded  the  Spanish  Inquisi- 
tion, was  a  Christian  ;  and  so  were  the  wretches  who 
applied  its  tortures.  Torquemada,  during  his  tenure 
of  ofiice  as  inquisitor-general,  burned  thousands,  most 
of  them  fellow-Christians,  who  differed  from  him  on 
some  unimportant  trifles.  In  less  than  three  hundred 
years,  the  Spanish  and  Christian  Inquisition  burned 
alive  more  than  thirty  thousand  persons,  and  con- 
demned to  various  terms  of  imprisonment  nearly  three 
hundred  thousand. 

The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  in  which  sixty- 
six  thousand  persons  were  murdered  for  daring  to  be 
Protestants,  was  performed  by  Christians.  In  Rome, 
the  papal  Christians  fired  cannon  and  kindled  bon- 
fires, and  Pope  Gregory  assisted  at  the  celebration  of 
a  solemn  mass,  as  a  thanksgiving  to  God  for  his  help 
in  butchering  their  fellow-Christians.  Indeed,  to-day 
Christian  Germans  and  Christian  French  are  fighting  ; 
and  the  victories  are  duly  celebrated  by  thanks  to  the 
Christian's  God  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  the  object  of 
the  Christian's  faith. 

19 


218 


WHO  ARE   CHRISTIANS? 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


.    219 


I 


"I  deny  that  these  were  Christians,"  says  one. 
"  Think  of  Christian  thieves,  murderers,  and  pros- 
titutes !  Why,  the  statement  is  its  own  sufficient  re- 
futation." —  "  Who,  then,  are  Christians  ?  "  I  inquire. 
"  Those  only  who  obey  the  doctrines  of  Christ,  and 
live  the  life  of  which  he  set  a  perfect  example."  This 
must  be  the  second  class  of  Christians  to  whom 
Webster  refers.  Where  are  we  to  find  the  doctrines 
of  Jesus  ?  In  the  New  Testament,  and  especially  in 
the  Gospels,  which  are  supposed  to  contaHi  the  com- 
mands that  he  gave  in  the  very  words  in  which  they 
were  uttered,  infallibly  reported  by  the  inspired  evan- 
gelists. Let  us  examine  these,  and  compare  them 
with  the  conduct  of  those  who  claim  the  Christian 
name,  that  we  may  discover  who  are  the  genuine 
Christians,  and  separate  them  from  the  miserable  pre- 
tenders whom  we  have  been  considering. 

Commencing  with  Matthew,  who  gives  us  a  report 
of  a  famous  sermon  by  Jesus  himself,  we  find  one 
of  his  commands  to  be,  "  Swear  not  at  all  .  .  .  let 
your  communication  be.  Yea,  yea ;  Nay,  nay :  for 
whatsoever  is  more  than  these  cometh  of  evil  "  (Matt. 
V.  34).  And  James,  one  of  his  disciples,  who  is  sup- 
posed to  have  heard  the  discourse,  reiterates  the  com- 
mand, and  even  strengthens  it :  "  Above  all  things, 
my  brethren,  swear  not,  neither  by  heaven,  neither 
by  the  earth,  neither  by  any  other  oath  :  but  let  your 
yea  bo  yea  ;  and  your  nay  nay  ;  lest  ye  fall  into  con- 
demnation" (James  V.  12).  "Above  all  things,"  — 
above  lying,  then,  above  stealing,  drunkenness,  and 
even  murder ;  and  he  who  swears  must,  according  to 
this,  be  the  most  guilty  of  all  criminals.' 


Now,  walk  into  one  of  our  courts  of  justice.  Hear 
what  the  judge  says  to  a  number  of  men  who  stand 
before  him :  "  You  solemnly  swear,  in  the  presence 
of  Almighty  God,  that  you  will  speak  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth  :  so  help  you 
God."  And  the  men  hold  up  their  right  hands,  and 
swear.  Who  can  those  men  be  ?  Are  they  Moham- 
medans, or  ignorant  pagans?  One  is  a  Catholic, 
another  a  Methodist,  a  third  a  Presbyterian,  and  all 
professing  Christians  ;  and  there  are  none  out  of  the 
millions  professing  the  Christian  name  who  regard 
these  commands,  except  a  handful  of  Quakers  and 
Moravians.  Can  we  consider  those  men  Christians  of 
the  second  class,  who  so  grossly  neglect  such  a  plain 
and  positive  command  of  Christ  as  this  ? 

In  the  same  sermon,  Jesus  said,  "  Resist  not  evil ; 
but  whosoever  shall  smite  thee  on  thy  right  cheek, 
turn  to  him  the  other  also.  And  if  any  man  will  sue 
thee  at  the  law,  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have 
thy  cloak  also.  And  whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to 
go  a  mile,  go  with  him  twain  "  (Matt.  v.  39-41).  In  a 
report  by  Luke  of  the  same  discourse,  we  have  these 
commands  in  a  still  stronger  form :  "  Unto  him  that 
smiteth  thee  on  the  one  cheek,  offer  also  the  other ; 
and  him  that  taketh  away  thy  cloak  forbid  not  to  take 
thy  coat  also  "  (Luke  vi.  29).  Again  he  says,  "  Love 
your  enemies  ;  do  good  to  them  which  hate  you." 
These  commands  are  plain  ;  their  moaning  is  evident : 
but  who  obeys  them  ?  Not  the  policeman  who  knocks 
down  the  man  that  strikes  him,  and  takes  him  off  to 
jail.  Not  the  member  of  a  Christian  church  who 
employs  the  policeman  to  resist  the  man  whom  he  is 


220 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


221 


it 


unable  or  unwilling  to  resist  himself.  No  policeman 
can  be  a  true  Christian  :  his  business  is  to  resist  evil ; 
and,  when  he  ceases  to  do  that,  his  work  as  a  police- 
man is  at  an  end.  If  a  policeman  could  be  a  Chris- 
tian, a  man  who  lives  by  stealing  could  be  an  honest 
man.  Our  jailers,  magistrates,  judges,  and  attorneys, 
are  constantly  engaged  in  resisting  evil,  and  even 
boast  of  what  they  accomplish  in  this  way.  They 
seem  to  have  agreed  to  treat  Jesus  as  we  treat  the 
insane,  saying,  Yes,  yes,  to  all  he  utters,  but  never  for 
a  moment  intending  to  obey  his  commands.  From 
the  decreasing  ranks  of  our  genuine  Christians  wo 
must  then  take  jailers,  magistrates,  judges,  attorneys 
and  justices  :  they  not  only  disobey  these  commands 
of  Jesus,  but  they  live  by  their  disobedience  of  them, 
and  are  constantly  engaged  in  encouraging  others  to 
disobey  them.  Soldiers,  from  the  man  in  the  ranks 
to  the  general,  must  be  counted  out.  They  may 
plunder  their  enemies,  shoot  them,  stab  them  ;  but,  if 
they  love  them,  they  arc  spoiled  for  soldiers.  What 
would  a  captain  say  to  the  man  in  his  company  who 
allowed  the  enemy  to  strike  him,  and  never  attempted 
to  return  the  blow,  but  allowed  him  to  strike  the 
second  time,  and  still  made  no  resistance  ?  A  Chris- 
tian soldier  would  bo  more  useless  than  an  idiotic 
school-teacher  ;  and  a  musket  is  as  much  out  of  place 
in  a  Christian's  hands  as  a  telescope  is  at  the  eye  of  a 
blind  man. 

But  the  whole  frame-work  of  our  government  rests 
on  the  soldier.  Disobey  the  law,  and  the  constable 
serves  a  warrant  on  you  ;  resist  the  constable,  and  the 
general  police  are  called  out,  or  special  constables  sworn 


in ;  successfully  resist  these,  and  the  State  militia  are 
employed ;  and  if  they  should  be  too  feeble  to  over- 
come the  resistance,  then  the  soldiers  employed  by  the 
general  government  become  the  last  resort:  if  they 
fail,  the  government  is  gone,  and  the  successful  resist- 
ers  establish  theirs  in  its  place.  Since  soldiers  cannot 
be  Christians,  all  government  officers  who  hold  their 
situations  by  the  soldiers'  resistance  share  in  their 
guilt,  and  must  be  counted  unworthy  of  the  Christian 
name. 

But  Christians  everywhere  act  as  if  these  commands 
of  Jesus  had  never  been  given,  or,  being  given,  that 
they  mean  the  very  contrary  of  what  they  say.  Joseph 
Smith,  the  Mormon  prophet,  was  once  asked  what  he 
thought  of  that  passage  of  Scripture  which  says, 
"  Whosoever  shall  smite  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn 
to  him  the  other  also."  —  "  Ah ! "  said  Joseph,  "  Jesus 
Christ  was  a  smart  man,  the  wisest  of  men :  he  knew 
that  a  man  might  hit  you  accidentally  or  playfully,  and, 
before  resisting  it,  he  wished  you  to  make  sure  that  he 
was  in  earnest,  and  that  he  meant  you,  by  turning  to 
him  the  other ;  but,  if  he  hits  you  then,  go  into  him 
like  a  thousand  of  brick."  By  the  way  that  Christians 
generally  act,  one  might  suppose  that  they  held  a 
similar  opinion  with  regard  to  its  meaning. 

Again  Jesus  says,  "  When  thou  prayest,  enter  into 
thy  closet ;  and,  when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door,  pray 
to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret."  Some  Christians' 
praying  is  doubtless  done  after  this  fashion  ;  but  a  large 
proportion  of  it  is  done  in  a  very  different  way.  Chris- 
tian closets  are  very  large  in  these  days,  and  are  gener- 
ally furnished  with  steeples.     The  pompous  clergyman 


009 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


WHO   ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


223 


4 


m 


in  his  sable  robe,  prayer-book  before  him,  in  stereotyped 
phrases  ofifers  his  supplications  in  the  presence  of  the 
assembled  congregation.  Another,  before  fivQ  hundred 
people,  closes  his  eyes,  lifts  up  his  hands,  and  proceeds 
to  inform  God  what  he  is,  what  he  has  done,  and  ad- 
vise him  for  half  an  hour  as  to  what  he  had  better  do. 
Not  content  with  setting  the  commandments  of  Jesus 
at  defiance  themselves,  these  professed  Christians 
establish  meetings  for  public  prayer,  where  men,  and 
recently  women,  are  encouraged  to  set  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  at  defiance ;  and  that  is  actually  called  a 
"  Cliristian  duty,''  which  is  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
teaching  and  practice  of  Jesus. 

What  sermon  did  he  ever  commence  with  a  prayer  ? 
How  many  prayer-meetings  did  he  establish  or  attend  ? 
Had  he  been  like  our  modern  Christians,  we  should 
have  had  some  such  record  as  this  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment :  "  Now  there  was  a  prayer-meeting  in  Cana  of 
Galilee,  and  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were  there.  Jesus 
opened  the  meeting  by  giving  out  one  of  the  Psalms 
of  David,  and  then  called  upon  brother  Simon  Peter  to 
pray,  which  he  did  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  and  with 
the  unction  of  the  Holy  One  :  lie  was  followed  by 
brothers  James  and  John,  and  all  the  disciples ;  and 
the  power  of  the  Lord  was  felt  in  their  midst,  so  that 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees  marvelled,  and  a  revival  i)roke 
out,  and  many  hundred  souls  were  soundly  converted 
to  God."  The  difference  between  this  and  the  state- 
ments made  in  the  Gospels  respecting  the  methods  of 
Jesus  represents  the  difference  between  Christianity 
and  what  passes  for  it  at  the  present  day.  Had  Jesus 
been  like  our  present  Christian  mmisters,  he  would 


have  paid  but  little  attention  to  men's  bodies,  he  would 
have  wasted  but  little  time  in  curing  their  diseases :  he 
would  have  established  prayer-meetings,  and  formed 
societies  from  Nazareth  to  Jericho,  and  got  up  camp- 
meetings  on  the  shores  of  G^nnesaret,  where  he  and 
his  disciples  would  have  prayed,  and  preached  damna- 
tion to  all  unrepenting  sinners,  and  salvation  to  all  who 
should  believe  on  a  to-be-crucified  Redeemer. 

In  the  famous  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Jesus  also  says, 
'*  Give  to  him  that  asketh  of  thee,  and  from  him  that 
would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not  thou  away  "  (Matt.  v. 
42).  Luke's  report  also  adds,  "  Of  him  that  taketh 
away  thy  goods,  ask  them  not  again  ; "  for,  he  says,  "  if 
ye  lend  to  them  of  whom  ye  hope  to  receive,  what  thank 
have  ye  ?  for  sinners  also  lend  to  sinners,  to  receive  as 
much  again.  But  love  your  enemies,  and  do  good,  and 
lend,  hoping  for  nothing  again,  and  your  reward  shall 
be  great "  (Luke  vi.  30-34).  This  is  also  very  plain : 
the  disciples  of  Jesus  are  to  be  as  widely  different  from 
sinners,  and  as  easily  distinguished,  as  sheep  are  from 
goats.  But  is  this  the  case  ?  Where  are  the  men  or 
women  who  obey  these  commands,  or  even  try  to  obey 
them  ?  It  would  only  be  necessary  for  the  beggars  to 
stand  at  the  doors  of  our  churches,  to  render  themselves 
independently  rich  in  a  twelvemonth,  if  the  professed 
Christians  who  worship  in  them  were  obedient  to  the 
commands  of  their  Master.  Where  are  the  Christians, 
if  those  only  are  such  who  obey  these  commands  ? 
Are  there  any  among  the  brokers  of  Wall  Street  or 
State  Street  ?  How  many  can  Beacon  Street  show,  or 
even  Washington  or  Tremont  Streets?  It  would  re- 
quire somethmg  brighter  than  Diogenes'  lantern  to  find 


224 


WHO  ARE  CHEISTIANS? 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


225 


I 


them.    How  do  Christians  lend  ?    I  find  they  arc  not 
averse  to  six  per  cent ;  nor  do  they  often  object  to  eight, 
even  when  the  usury  laws  forbid  it.     Nor  will  they  lend 
then  without  the  best  of  security.     They  do  not  con- 
sider two  per  cent  a  month  extravagant,  if  a  man's 
necessities  compel  him  to  pay  it ;  and  they  have  no 
compunctions  of  conscience  when  they  foreclose  a  mort- 
gage, turn  a  man's  family  out,  and  take  from  them  a 
five-thousand-dollar  house  on  which  they  had  lent  but 
five  hundred.     A  poor  Christian  wants  to  save  his  home 
from  the  clutches  of  some  legal  freebooter.     Will  his 
brother  Christian  lend  him  the  money  without  interest, 
even  if  he  has  a  million,  and  could  do  it  as  well  as  not? 
So  seldom  is  it  done,  that  such  cases  are  almost  un- 
known. 

Had  these  commands  of  Jesus  been  the  very  oppo- 
site of  what  they  are,  the  conduct  of  professing  Chris- 
tians would  be  almost  in  exact  harmony  with  them. 
"  Give  nothing  to  him  that  asketh  of  thee,  and  from  him 
that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn  thou  away."  "  If  any 
man  take  away  thy  goods,  place  him  where  there  will 
be  no  opportunity  to  do  it  again."  "  Lend  only  to 
those  of  whom  ye  hope  to  receive,  and  where  princi- 
pal and  interest  are  secured,  then  your  reward  shall 
be  great."  Read  the  passages  thus,  and  I  will  find 
you  obedient  disciples  in  every  church  of  the  land. 

I  read  also  in  this  mountain  sermon,  "  Lay  not  up 
for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,  where  moth  and 
rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break  through 
and  steal."  How  many  Christians  obey  this  com- 
mand ?  Few  besides  those  who  are  so  poor  that  they 
have  nothing  to  lay  up.     If  those  only  are  Christians 


T 


who  obey  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  all  depositors  in 
banks  must  be  counted  out,  all  holders  of  stocks 
and  bonds.  No  free-mason  can  be  a  Christian,  no 
odd-fellow,  or  son  of  temperance.  All  these  have  laid 
up  for  themselves  treasures  on  earth,  and  have  thereby 
forfeited  all  right  to  the  treasures  of  heaven. 

^'But  Jesus  never  meant  what  you  suppose.^  ^  Who 
informed  thee  that  Jesus  did  not  mean  what  he  said  ? 
Dost  thou  know  better  how  to  embody  his  meaning  in 
words  than  He  whom  thou  believest  to  be  Lord  of  all 
the  earth  ?  It  is  passing  strange,  if  he  did  not  mean 
what  he  said,  that  he  did  not  say  what  he  meant. 

^'But  to  obey  such  commands  would  make  all  Chris- 
tians poor,^^  Certainly ;  and  this  is  just  what  is 
needed :  Jesus  evidently  intended  his  disciples  to  be 
poor,  and  very  poor.  Nothing  shows  more  clearly 
how  the  Christian  standard  has  been  lowered  than  the 
fact  that  rich  men  frequently  claim  to  be  Christians. 
The  very  first  sentence  that  Jesus  uttered  in  his  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  according  to  Luke,  was,  "  Blessed 
be  ye  poor ;  for  yours  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 
"  Wha  ! "  I  hear  some  poverty-stricken  wretch  say, 
"  is  there  any  such  passage  as  that  in  the  Bible  ?  Did 
the  dear  Jesus  say  that  we  the  poor  are  blessed,  and  that 
ours  is  the  kingdom  of  God  ? "  I  don't  wonder 
that  you  ask  the  question.  It  is  one  of  those  passages 
that  no  minister  chooses  for  a  text,  and  that  one  never 
hears  quoted  from  the  pulpit ;  but  here  it  is  (Luke  vi. 
20)  :  "  Blessed  be  ye  poor,"  —  p-o-o-r,  poor.  More 
than  that,  he  says,  "  Woe  unto  you  that  are  rich,  for 
ye  have  received  your  consolation  "  (Luke  vi.  24). 
He  declares  that  "  it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go 

16 


226 


WHO  AEE  CHRISTIANS? 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


227 


in 


through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.''     Either  the  needle 
must  he  larger  than  needle  ever  was,  or  the  camel 
smaller  than  camel  ever  can  be  ;  or  no  rich  man  can 
be  a  Christian,  if  this  statement  of  Jesus  is  correct. 
Of  course,   Christians  must  be  poor;  and  Jesus,   in 
insisting  upon  poverty,  did  the  greatest  service  to  man- 
kind, if  his  fearful  statements  are  true.     I  am  here 
this  afternoon  to  preach  —  what  has  never  before  been 
heard   in  Boston  —  the  genuine  gospel  of  Jesus  ;  not 
the  emasculated  gospel  of  the  fashionable  churches, 
but  that  of  the  homeless,  bedless  wanderer  of  Naza- 
reth.    You  never  heard  it  before,  and  never  would 
Lear  it  in  any  ecclesiastical  edifice  ;  for  they  are  built 
by  the  very    men    whom    that    gospel    declares  woe 
against,  and  for  whom  the  fire  of  its  hell  is  prepared. 
Read  the   parable   of  the  rich    man   and   Lazarus 
(Luke  xvi.  19)  :  ''  There  was  a   certain   rich  man, 
which  was  clothed  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fared 
sumptuously  every  day."     No  intimation  that  he  was 
either  a  drunkard,  or  licentious,  dishonest,  or  even 
niggardly  ;  but  he  was  rich.     And  there  was  a  beggar 
laid  at  his  gate,  so  poor  that  he  desired  to  be  fed  with 
the  crumbs  that  fell  from  the  rich  man's  table.     No 
intimation  that  he  was  conscientious,  truthful,  or  even 
pious  ;  but  he  was  poor,  —  one  of  those  whose  is  the 
kingdom  of  God.     The  beggar  died,  and  was  carried 
by  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom  :   the  rich  man  also 
died,  and  was  buried  ;  but  in   hell  he  lifted  up   his 
eyes,  being  in  torment ;  nor  could  all  his  entreaties 
procure  a  drop  of  water  to  cool  his  parched  tongue 
while  tormented  in  the  scorching  flame.     Here  is  the 


woe  denounced  upon  the  rich,  here  the  terrible  fato 
that  awaits  them.  No  wonder  that  James  said,  ''  Go 
to  now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and  howl  for  your  miseries 
that  shall  come  upon  you."  When  the  rich  man  in 
the  parable  asks  Abraham  that  Lazarus  may  dip  the 
tip  of  his  finger  in  water  and  cool  his  tongue,  the 
answer  of  Abraham  is,  "  Son,  remember  that  thou  in 
thy  lifetime  receivedst  thy  good  things,  and  likewise 
Lazarus  evil  things ;  but  now  he  is  comforted,  and 
thou  art  tormented."  The  hungry  are  to  rejoice,  for 
by  and  by  they  will  be  fed  ;  the  mourners,  for  they 
will  be  comforted ;  and  the  miserably  poor,  for  the 
joys  of  heaven  await  them.  But  this  hell-tortured 
sinner,  who  might  not  have  the  slightest  mitigation  of 
his  penalty,  was  guilty  of  the  crime  of  being  rich  :  he 
liad  had  his  good  things,  and  now  it  is  turn  about ;  and 
in  his  fate  all  rich  men  may  see  the  doom  that  awaits 
them :  the  smoke  of  their  torment  must  ascend  for- 
ever. Nor  is  it  a  donation  of  a  hundred  dollars  to 
foreign  missions  that  will  save  you,  or  two  hundred  to 
the  Rev.  Theophilus  Hardshell's  salary :  your  only 
chance  for  salvation  is  to  become  poor. 

A  young  man  comes  running  to  Jesus :  he  is  evi- 
dently in  earnest,  and  says,  "  Good  Master,  what  good 
thing  shall  I  do,  that  1  may  have  eternal  life  ?  "  Sup- 
pose the  answer  of  Jesus  had  never  been  recorded, 
and  the  professing  Christians  of  the  various  sects  had 
been  left  to  fill  in  the  answer,  each  according  to  his 
notion.  "  I  have  no  doubt,"  says  one,  "  that  he  told 
him  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  exercise  sav- 
ing faith  in  him  as  the  Messiah."  "  He  must  have 
commanded  him,"  says  another,  "  to  pray  at  least 


228 


WHO  ARE  CHBISTIANS? 


WHO  ABE  CHRISTIANS? 


229 


three  times  a  day,  to  attend  divine  service  every  sab- 
batli,  and  live  a  Cliristian  life."  "  I  can  tell  you  just 
what  he  told  tlie  young  man,"  a  third  would  have 
confidentially  exclaimed ;  "  and  that  is,  simply  to 
believe  in  him  as  the  Christ,  and  be  immersed  in  his 
name."  Very  fortunately,  the  answer  of  Jesus  has 
been  recorded ;  and  it  is  such  a  one  as  no  member 
of  the  three  hundred  Christian  sects  would  ever  have 
supposed.  He  first  tells  him  that  he  must  keep  the 
commandments;  but  this  the  young  man  declares  he 
has  done  from  his  youth  up:  and  then  he  asks  the 
all-important  question,  "What  lack  I  yet?"  Now 
we  shall  have  the  very  essence  of  Christianity :  keep- 
ing the  commandments  was  Jewish,  and  men  had 
practised  it  for  centuries  before  Jesus  came.  If  Chris- 
tianity is  true,  from  the  lips  of  the  Master  of  life  is 
about  to  fall  the  words  that  contain  the  key  to  bliss 
eternal.  "  Sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor, 
and  come  and  follow  me."  Imagine  how  chop-fallen 
the  young  man  looked  !  How  many  young  men  who 
compose  our  Christian  associations  would  have  looked 
otherwise  ?  Only  those  that  had  nothing  to  sell. 
"  He  went  away  sorrowful ;  for  he  had  great  posses- 
sions." Had  Jesus  tried  the  solid  men  of  Boston,  how 
many  would  have  obeyed  him?  Not  a  soul.  The 
difiference  between  them  and  the  young  man  would 
have  been,  that  they  would  have  gone  away  angry 
instead  of  sorrowful.  If  the  Christian  missionaries 
of  to-day  preached  such  a  gospel  as  Jesus  did,  their 
disciples  would  be  as  few. 

"  But  Christianity  does  not  require  that  a  man  should 
strip  himself  in  that  way,^^     The  sham  Christianity 


of  the  churches  does  not ;  but  the  Christianity  of  Jesus 
does.  His  commands  are,  "  Sell  that  ye  have,  and 
give  alms "  (Luke  xii.  33).  "  Take  no  thought  for 
your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat,  nor  yet  for  your  body, 
what  ye  shall  put  on."  "  Take  no  thought  for  the 
morrow"  (Matt.  vi.  25,  34).  Jesus  and  his  disci- 
ples wandered  about  Galilee,  sleeping  on  the  ground 
or  in  a  fishing-boat,  knowing  not  to-day  how  to-mor- 
row's dinner  would  be  obtained.  Jesus  appears  to 
have  been  as  regardless  of  to-morrow  as  the  birds, 
whose  practice  he  recommends.  The  members  of  the 
earliest  Christian  Church  appear  to  have  understood 
the  commands  of  Jesus  literally,  and  they  acted  accord- 
ingly. They  sold  their  possessions,  and  laid  the 
money  at  the  apostles'  feet ;  and  distribution  was 
made  to  every  one  according  to  his  need  (Acts  ii. 
45). 

Let  men  obey  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  and  how  long 
would  they  be  rich,  or  have  possessions  ?  Let  the 
strongest  bank  in  Boston  put  out  a  sign,  "  Here  we 
lend,  hoping  for  nothing  in  return  ;  we  give  to  all  who 
ask  of  us,  and  of  those  who  take  our  goods  we  ask 
them  not  again."  Though  the  parties  were  rich  as 
the  Rothschilds  in  the  morning,  and  as  sure  of  hell  as 
Dives,  they  would  be  stripped  as  bare  as  Lazarus 
before  night,  and  be  just  as  certain  of  a  place  in  Abra- 
ham's capacious  bosom. 

Where  is  the  church  that  demands  of  its  members 
obedience  to  these  vital  Christian  duties  ?  Jesus 
says,  "  Believe  in  me."  They  do  it,  and  are  not  at  all 
backward  in  saying  so.  Christianity  is  now  a  fash- 
ionable religion ;  and  nothing  can  be  easier  than  to  be 


230 


WHO  ABE  CHRISTIANS? 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


231 


a  floating  chip   on   the   current  of   public   opinion. 
Jesus  says, -When  ye  pray,  say.  Our  Father:"  and 
this  how  ready  all  are  to  perform,  from  the  Unitarians 
to  the  ranters,  from  the  prattling  babe  to  the  gray- 
haired  sinner  of  ninety  ;  and  ask  for  their  daily  bread 
as  if  the  breakfast-loaf  depended   on  their  morning 
petition.     This  also  costs  nothing.     Jesus  says,  hand- 
iiicr  the  wine-cup  to  his  disciples,  "  Do  this,  as  oft  as  ye 
do°it,  in  remembrance  of  me  ; "  and,  although  there  is 
no  positive  command,  they  are  eager  to  attend  to  the 
slightest  hint  of  their  Master,  and  down  goes  the  poi- 
sonous  alcoholic  compound   as    the    mystical    blood 
of  Je.us.     He  also  says,  "He  that  believeth,  and  is 
baptized,  shall  be  saved/'      "Then  we  must  be  bap- 
tized,"  say  the  Baptists.   "  Yes,  our  little  oiies,    say 
the  pedo-Baptists ;  and  up  come  the  little  children  m 
the  arms  of  their  parents,  and  are  sprinkled  m  the 
name  of  the  triune  Jehovah ;  and  down  go  the  chil- 
dren of  a  larger  growth  in  the  arms  of  the  priest,  to  be 
dipped  in  the  same  name.     This  also  costs  next  to 
nothing,  and  is  often  a  passport  into  what  is  called 
good  society.     But  when  Jesus  says,  "  Lend,  hoping 
for  nothing  again,''  "  Give  to  him  that  asketh  of  thee, 
"  Sell  that  ye  have,  and  give  alms,"  all  are  stone- 
deaf;  or,  if  they  hear,  they  are  quite  sure  that  he  does 
not  mean  what  he  says.     Jesus  may  beckon  for  them 
to  tread  the  path  that  he  has  trod ;  but  they  are  all 
blind      This  costs  something ;    this  strips  them  and 
tries  them;  this  tests  their  faith.     Jesus  is  reported 
as  savin-,  "  When  the  Son  of  man  cometh,  shall  he 
find  kith  on  the  earth?"  and  I  think,  if  he  should 
come  now,  he  would  find  the  pretending  members 


of  his  church  to  be  infidels  to  a  man :  there  is  no  faith 
in  Jesus  in  the  land.  Let  millionnaires  distribute  what 
thoy  have  robbed  from  the  poor,  when  they  take  the 
Christian  name ;  let  them  sell  their  mansions  to-day, 
and  distribute  to  the  necessitous,  and  know  not  where 
they  shall  lay  their  heads  to-morrow  ;  let  those  Chris- 
tian ministers  who  denounce  all  who  do  not  accept 
their  standard  of  Christianity  set  the  example  by 
reducing  themselves  to  abject  poverty,  and  then  we 
shall  have  evidence  of  their  sincerity  at  least. 

Who  are  genuine  Christians  ?  They  cannot  be  those 
lords  over  God's  heritage,  who  pocket  from  five  to  fif- 
teen thousand  dollars  a  year  for  preaching  a  gospel 
scarcely  an  item  of  which  Jesus  could  recognize.  They 
cannot  be  among  those  sleek  church-goers  who  pay 
from  a  hundred  to  a  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  the 
privilege  of  sitting  in  a  cushioned  pew,  and  listening 
to  Rev.  Silver-Tongue  as  he  proves  how  easy  it  is  for  a 
camel  to  go  through  a  needle's  eye.  Boston,  among  its 
regiment  of  preachers,  cannot  find  a  single  man  ;  and 
the  New-York  and  Brooklyn  pounders,  expounders,  and 
ten-pounders,  are  not  a  whit  more  Christian  than  their 
Boston  brethren.  If  the  Christians  only  are  sheep,  they 
arc  left-hand  goats,  to  a  man ;  and  the  Judge's  fatal 
"Depart!"  must  ring  through  their  guilty  souls  in 
"  the  last  great  day."  Nor  are  the  members  of  our  so- 
called  Christian  churches  in  a  much  more  hopeful  con- 
dition. Not  only  is  it  impossible  to  find  a  man  who 
obeys  the  commands  of  Jesus,  we  cannot  even  find 
one  who  tries  to  obey  them ;  and,  if  we  did,  his  Chris- 
tian brethren  would  be  among  the  first  to  conclude  that 
he  had  taken  leave  of  his  senses. 


232 


WHO  AEE  CHRISTIANS? 


If  any  of  you  still  think  that  you  are  Christians,  and 
that,  on  account  of  this,  Jesus  will  save  you  from  the 
curses  pronounced  on  the  disobedient,  let  me  refer  you 
to  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  Mark.  I  read,  "  He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved ;  but  he  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  Now  comes  the  ques- 
tion of  questions:  Are  you  a  believer?  for,  if  you  are 
not,  damnation  is  yours.  Jesus  himself  gives  the  test 
by  which  you  may  decide :  *'  These  signs  shall  follow 
them  that  believe :  in  my  name  shall  they  cast  out 
devils ;  they  shall  speak  with  new  tongues  ;  they  shall 
take  up  serpents  ;  and,  if  they  drink  any  deadly  thing, 
it  shall  not  hurt  them ;  they  shall  lay  hands  on  the 
sick,  and  they  shall  recover."  Can  you  cast  out  devils 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  ?  Can  you  speak  with  new 
tongues  ?  It  may  be  difficult  to  tell  when  the  devils 
are  in,  and  perhaps  still  more  to  tell  when  they  are 
out ;  it  may  be  impossible  for  us  to  tell  whether  any 
pecidiar  speech  that  you  may  utter  is  a  veritable  lan- 
guage or  not :  but  can  you  handle  serpents  with  im- 
punity, say  rattlesnakes,  vipers,  or  copperheads  ?  Can 
you  drink  any  deadly  thing  without  injury  ?  —  a  dose 
of  arsenic,  for  instance,  a  few  grains  of  corrosive  subli- 
mate, or  half  a  pint  of  sulphuric-acid  ?  Can  a  man  be 
found  among  the  millions  professing  the  Christian 
name  that  would  submit  to  the  test,  to  say  nothing 
about  being  unharmed  afterward  ?  Or  can  you  lay 
your  hands  on  the  sick,  and  they  recover  ?  I  hear  of 
Spiritualists  doing  this  at  times ;  but  where  are  the 
Christians  that  can  do  it  ?  And  yet  it  is  evident,  if 
Jesus  states  what  is  true,  that  those  who  cannot  do 
these  things  will  be   damned.     Out  of  the  way,  you 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


233 


shams!  —  you  Roman  Catholic,  with  your  seven  sacra- 
ments, your  holy  water,  your  Latin  gabble,  your  fantastic 
dresses !    Away  with  you,  monks,  priests,  cardinals,  and 
infatuated  popes,  and  take  your  Pater-Noders  and  Ave- 
3Iaria8y  your  litanies  and  your  solemn  masses,  with 
you  !    What  are  they  good  for  ?    The  whole  pile  of 
your  mummery  never  made   a  single  Christian,  and 
cannot  save  from  damnation   one  guilty  soul.     You 
need  not  come.  Episcopalian,  to  take  his  place.     What 
better  is  your  prayer-book  than  his  mass-book  ?     Are 
your  two  sacraments  any  more  efficacious   than  his 
seven?  your  damnatory  creed  any  more  soul-savuig 
than  his  ?     You  can  make  Episcopalians  by  the  mil- 
lion ;  but  there  is  not  a  Christian  among  them ;  and, 
if  Jesus  speaks  what  is  true,  they  will  every  one  be 
damned  with  the  common  herd.     Here  come  the  Pres- 
byterians.    *'  Wo  are  the  Christians,  orthodox,  evan- 
gelical.     We    have    thrown    overboard    unscriptural 
Popery,  unchristian  Episcopalianism ;  and  we  are  the 
true  followers  of  the  Saviour."     You,  with  your  cloud- 
cleaving  spires,  your  velvet-cushioned  pews  and  your 
tasselled  pulpits,  your  ten-thousand-dollar  ministers  and 
millionnaire  members,  — you  Christians?     Then. are 
misers  generous,  drunkards  temperate,  and  Hottentots 
the  most  beautiful  of  mankind.     You  need  not  crowd 
in,  Methodist,  Baptist,  Quaker,  Shaker,  Unitarian,  Uni- 
versalist,  and  Adventist,  —  shams,  every  one.  Jesus  can 
only  say  to  you  all,  "  Depart  from  me :  I  never  knew 
you ! "    You  have  built  on  the  sand,  and  your  structure 
must  fall  when  the  wrath  of  Gk)d  is  revealed  on  those 
who  obey  not  the  gospel  of  his  Son. 


V 


234 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


2C5 


I 


If  none  are  to  be  saved  but  Christians,  wliere,  my 
professing  brother,  will  you  appear  ? 

I  can  see  the  last  great  day,  "  the  day  for  which  all 
other  days  were  made."     Down  from  heaven  descends 
the  Master,  surrounded  with  the  shining  host ;  and  at 
the  sound  of  that  trumpet  whose  call  the  very  dead 
hear,  up  come  earth's  buried  hosts.     I  behold  all  the 
Christians  sects,  marshalled  by  their  leaders  and  under 
their  respective  banners,  come  before  the  throne  of 
Him  whose  name  had  been  their  boast.    The  Roman 
Catholics,  a  myriad-membered  throng,  approach ;  and 
a  venerable  prelate  stands  as  their  mouthpiece  before 
the  "  dread  tribunal."     "  On  what  grounds  do  ye  claim 
the  Christian  name,  and  a  place  in  my  kingdom  ? " 
said  the  once  meek  Nazarene,  but  now  the  lion  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  with  flaming  vengeance  in  his  eye  and  a 
dagger  in  every  word.     "  Thou  gavest  to  Peter  the  keys 
of  the  kingdom   of  heaven ;  and  we  have  faithfully 
obeyed  his  successors,  and  proclaimed  their  decisions 
infallible.     We  have  styled  the  holy  Mary,  thy  mother. 
Mother  of  God,  and  given  to  her  all  but  divine  homage. 
We  have  built  the  most  magnificent  cathedrals,  and 
drained  from  the  poor  more  money  for  thy  cause  than 
any  other  people   on   earth.     We  have  persecuted  to 
death,  wherever  we  have  had  the  power,  all  who  would 
not  bow  down  to  thy  name,  as  our  church  directed  : 
we  burnt  them  at  the  stake,  racked  them  on  the  wheel, 
hung  them  on  the  gibbet,  and  tortured  them  in  all 
ways  that  our  ingenuity  could  devise,  to  drive  their 
heresies  from  them,  and  save  precious  souls.     Surely 
we  are  thy  people,  and  shall  be  allowed  to  enter  into 
thy  kingdom,  and  sit  down  with  thee." 


"Did  you  not  know,"  and  his  voice  sounded  like 
thunder, "  that  Peter  was  he  to  whom  I  said, '  Gret  thee 
behind  me,  Satan  ! '  and  that  he  denied  me  with  oaths 
and  curses  ?  What  authority  had  you  from  mc  to  call 
his  pretended  successors  infallible  ?  When  I  was  on 
earth,  my  disciples  wished  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven 
on  those  who  rejected  mc  ;  but  I  replied,  as  you  know, 
*  The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but 
to  save  them.'  Was  it  for  you,  then,  in  my  name,  to 
torture  and  burn  men  because  they  would  not  submit 
to  a  tyrannical  church,  —  the  most  infernal  that  was 
ever  established  among  men  ?  My  mother  did  no  more 
than  any  other  woman  might  have  done  in  her  place, 
and  was  no  more  divine  than  the  mothers  of  my  poor, 
whom  you  robbed  to  build  your  pompous  piles,  and  feed 
your  pampered  church.  Traitors  to  humanity,  lovers 
of  darkness,  torturers  of  the  conscientious,  plunderers 
of  the  poor,  depart  from  me ! "  Then  the  banners 
drooped,  the  proud  prelates  hung  their  heads,  and  the 
duped  multitude  blushed  for  shame  as  they  moved  on, 
and  made  room  for  the  Presbyterians,  who  came  boldly, 
in  no  degree  disconcerted  by  the  fate  of  the  Romanists 
that  had  preceded  them.  "  We  are  Christians,"  said 
they,  "  and  we  claim  the  kingdom  which  is  ours  by 
faith."  —  "  What  have  ye  done  to  deserve  it  ?  "  said  He 
on  the  throne.  They  answered,  "  We  rescued  thy 
Church  and  thy  Word  from  the  hands  of  the  polluted 
wretches  that  preceded  us,  and  uplifted  thy  banner, 
that  had  been  trampled  in  the  dust,  and  made  it  sacred 
in  the  eyes  of  the  respectable  in  all  Christian  lands. 
We  built  the  best  of  churches,  paid  millions  for  home 
and  foreign  missions,  and  made  thy  name  to  be  honored 


236 


WHO  ARE  CHKISTIANSV 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


237 


K/ 


V 


by  the  rich  and  influential  everywhere.  We  erected 
colleges  for  training  young  men  to  preach  thy  Word ; 
and  our  doctors  of  divinity  wore  renowned  throughout 
the  civilized  world." 

"  Is  this  what  I  commanded  you  to  do  ?  "  and  his  eye 
blazed  like  lightning ;  and  a  shudder  ran  through  the 
multitude,  so  that  they  trembled,  as  he  spoke,  like  a 
leaf  on  an  aspen-tree.  "  You  rescued  my  Church  and 
my  Bible  ?  You  never  did  either.  My  Church  exists 
alone  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  obey  my  instructions ; 
and  from  whom  did  my  Word  need  to  be  rescued  more 
than  from  you  who  denied  its  meaning,  and  by  every 
deed  of  your  lives  set  at  nought  its  requirements  ? 
You  made  my  name  honored  by  misrepresenting  my 
character,  and  belying  my  gospel ;  and  in  my  kingdom 
there  is  no  place  for  such  as  you."  And  I  saw  the  sad, 
solemn  multitude  depart  like  a  funeral  procession,  to 
make  room  for  the  next  claimants  of  the  Christian's 
reward. 

Confidently  came  a  greater  host,  a  host  no  man  might 
number :  a  million  columns  filed  before  the  tlirone,  and 
they  looked  as  if  they  might,  in  case  of  refusal,  take 
heaven  itself  by  storm.  They  were  the  Methodists. 
"  We  are  thine,"  said  they, "  the  children  of  the  King ; 
and  we  come  to  thee  for  our  crown  and  our  kingdom." 
—  "  Wliy  should  I  give  crowns  to  you  ?  What  proofs 
can  you  present  of  your  relationship  to  me  ?  "  said  the 
Judge.  "  Like  thee  we  went  among  the  poor  and  the 
lowly,  we  formed  prayer-meetings,  established  class- 
meetings,  got  up  revivals,  and  swept  millions  into  thy 
Church  and  thy  fold.  We,  too,  have  built  churches  in 
thy  name ;  in  thy  name  have  founded  colleges,  and  sent 


out  preachers  to  the  remotest  bounds  of  the  earth."  — 
"  I  know  you,"  said  the  Judge ;  and,  as  he  said  it,  I 
saw  darkness  upon  their  faces  like  the  shadow  of  a 
cloud  on  a  mountain-side.  "  You  went  among  the 
poor  and  lowly :  ye  did  well ;  but  did  you  go  to  dis- 
tribute all  that  you  had  ?  Did  you  give  to  those  wlio 
asked  you  ?  Did  you  lend,  hoping  for  nothing  ?  Did 
you  denounce  the  tyrant  lordlings  who  held  my  people 
in  bondage,  and  wrung  from  them  the  fruits  of  their 
labor  to  pamper  their  pride  ?  Who  told  you  to  form 
prayer-meetings  and  class-meetings  ?  Who  commanded 
you  to  get  up  revivals,  build  churches,  and  send  preach- 
ers to  declare  a  gospel  which  they  preached,  instead  of 
my  gospel,  scarcely  a  word  of  which  they  ever  uttered  ? 
My  crowns  are  not  for  such  as  you,  and  my  heaven 
cannot  reward  pretenders,  or  their  dupes."  And  the 
weeping  Methodists  followed  the  Presbyterians  and  the 
Romanists,  as  all  other  Christian  sects  followed  them ; 
for  in  the  heaven  of  Jesus  the  Christ  there  was  no 
place  found  by  them. 

Where,  then,  shall  we  find  the  true  Christians  ?  I 
will  give  you  the  gospel-marks  by  which  they  may  be 
distinguished  ;  and,  when  you  find  one,  you  cannot  be 
mistaken.  They  never  swear,  not  even  in  a  court  of 
justice ;  they  do  not  resist  evil,  and,  if  any  man  hits 
tlicnj  on  one  check,  they  turn  the  other ;  they  lend, 
hoping  for  nothing  again ;  they  give  to  all  who  ask  of 
them ;  they  sell  what  they  have,  and  give  alms ;  they 
take  no  thought  for  the  morrow ;  they  take  no  thought 
about  what  they  shall  eat,  drink,  or  wear ;  they  wash 
one  another's  feet.  When  they  make  a  feast,  they  do 
not  invite   their  friends  nor  their  acquaintances  nor 


238 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


WHO  ARE  CHRISTIANS? 


239 


A 


ill 


their  rich  neighbors,  but  the  poor,  the  halt,  and  tlio 
blind.  They  love  their  enemies  ;  but  they  hate  their 
fathers,  mothers,  sisters,  brothers,  husbands  or  wives, 
their  children,  and  their  own  lives :  for  all  tliese  Jesus 
commanded.  Should  there  be  any  doubt  still  remain- 
ing, you  will  know  them  by  this :  they  can  cast  out 
devils,  speak  with  new  tongues,  handle  serpents,  drink 
deadly  poison  with  impunity,  and  heal  the  sick  by  lay- 
ing their  hands  upon  them.  "  But  there  are  no  such 
people,"  I  think  I  hear  you  say.  Certainly  not ;  and 
hence  there  are  no  Christians  in  your  sense,  —  none 
who  obey  the  commands  of  Jesus ;  and  indeed  Jesus 
himself  was  no  Christian,  if  this  alone  constitutes  one. 
Like  all  other  men,  his  ideal  was  different  from  his 
actual  life.  He  says,  "  Whosoever  calleth  his  brother 
a  fool  is  in  danger  of  hell-fire ; "  yet  he  repeatedly  calls 
the  Pharisees  '*  fools  and  blind."  He  says, ''  Resist  not 
evil,"  yet  with  a  scourge  drives  the  traffickers  out  of 
the  temple,  and  overturns  the  tables  of  the  money- 
changers. He  tells  men  to  be  perfect,  as  their  Father 
in  heaven  is  perfect ;  and  yet  says  there  is  but  One 
good,  that  is  God.  He  says, "  Take  no  thought  for  the 
morrow."  Hear  him  in  the  Garden  of  Getlisemane, 
as  he  prays,  "  0  my  Father,  if  it  it  be  possible,  let  this 
cup  pass  from  me."  What  cup  ?  The  cup  of  sorrow 
that  he  was  to  drink  on  the  morrow.  If  none  get  to 
heaven  but  those  who  obey  the  commandments  of 
Jesus,  then  Jesus  himself  will  be  absent :  he  too  will 
be  cast  into  outer  darkness,  where  there  is  weeping, 
wailing,  and  teetli-gnashing.  If  Jesus  was  not  a  gen- 
uine Christian,  what  chance  has  any  one  else  to  be  ? 
I  do  not,  of  course,  blame  any  one  for  failing  to  be  a 


Christian.  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  humanity  to  be ; 
and  for  men  even  to  try  to  be  would  be  most  disastrous. 
It  was  this  that  made  a  eunuch  of  Origen,  filled  the 
Church  with  idle  nuns  and  beggarly  monks,  and  to-day 
makes  celibates  of  hundreds  of  Shakers,  who,  but  for 
their  unfortunate  faith,  might  be  exemplary  parents, 
and  leave  the  world  better  than  they  found  it.  It  has 
made  multitudes  fools  for  Christ's  sake,  who  might 
have  been  intelligent  and  happy  men  and  women.  Let 
those  who  desire  to  become  Christians  give  to  those 
who  ask  of  them,  and  lend,  hoping  for  nothing  again, 
and  the  list  of  paupers  would  soon  be  largely  increased, 
and  the  idle  and  the  industrious  would  be  equally 
cursed.  There  is  often  no  better  way  to  cure  a  man 
of  Christianity  than  to  induce  him  to  try  to  live  his 
faith.  These  members  of  Christian  churches,  then,  — 
these  Christian  ministers  too,  who  "  deal  damnation 
round  the  land,"  —  are  Christians  in  no  other  sense 
than  the  mass  of  believers  in  Jesus  outside  of  the 
Church ;  and,  if  their  Master  is  to  be  believed,  their 
damnation  is  as  certain  as  that  of  those  they  denounce. 
They  are  Christian  ministers,  as  our  thieves  are  Chris- 
tian thieves ;  and  the  churches  in  which  they  preach 
are  Christian  churches,  as  our  jails  are  Christian  jails, 
and  our  drink-houses.  Christian  grog-shops.  They 
have  taken  just  as  much  of  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  as 
they  pleased,  mixed  it  with  a  set  of  monstrous  fables 
of  their  own,  or  of  other  pretended  Christians,  from 
Paul  down ;  and,  having  baptized  this  as  Christianity, 
.they  curse  every  one  who  will  not  bow  down  to  the  idol 
that  they  have  set  up. 
There  are  multitudes  of  well-meaning  people,  who 


240 


WHO  ABE  CHRISTIANS? 


WHO   ARE  CHRISTIANS 


241 


I- 


/ 


have  been  educated  in  the  Christian  faith,  or  what  goes 
by  that  name,  who  are  sincerely  desirous  to  obey  the 
teachings  of  Jesus,  because  they  believe  it  to  be  tlicir 
duty.  Many  such  are  made  unhappy  by  their  inability 
to  live  the  life  that  their  faith  demands.  What  a  satis- 
faction it  must  be  to  know  tliat  there  is  not  the  least 
necessity  for  any  one  to  be  a  Christian !  our  welfare  in 
this  life  or  the  next  does  not  in  the  sHghtest  degree 
depend  upon  it.  You  can  be  a  philosopher,  as  Hum- 
boldt was,  and  be  no  Christian,  as  he  was  none ;  you 
may  be  a  poet,  with  Shelley ;  a  philanthropist  with 
Henry  C.  Wright,  who  had  long  cast  off  the  Christian 
name  and  the  Christian  pretence  ;  you  can  be  a  good 
father  or  mother,  a  good  citizen,  a  lover  of  man,  and  a 
doer  of  right,  a  practiser  of  temperance  and  every 
virtue,  and  yet  be  no  Christian.  And  a  man  may  be  a 
thief,  drunkard,  murderer,  adulterer,  hypocrite,  and 
brute,  and  yet  be  a  Christian  in  the  only  sense  in  which 
any  man  can  be  a  Christian. 

Think  of  the  time,  labor,  and  energy  wasted  in  the 
attempt  to  make  men  Christians.  Think  of  the  thou- 
sands of  missionaries  roaming  over  the  world,  and  spend- 
ing their  lives  in  converting  men  from  one  form  of 
superstition  to  another.  Think  of  the  millions  spent 
in  Massachusetts  to  convert  men  to  the  dogmas  of 
twenty  contending  sects,  that  are  no  more  Christian 
than  the  Roman  Church  is  catholic.  Instead  of  Bible- 
classes,  where  our  young  people  are  taught  what  the 
Bible  means,  and  often  what  it  does  not  mean,  let  us 
have  classes  of  physiology,  phrenology,  geology,  and 
astronomy  ;  schools  for  adults,  in  which  gi'ammar,  elo- 
cution, music,  and  drawing  will  be  taught,  and  where 


instruction  can  be  obtained  in  the  moral  duties  which 
grow  out  of  our  relations  to  each  other  and  to  nature. 
Then  every  member  will  learn  something  useful,  not 
only  for  this  life,  but  that  will  be  capital  with  which  to 
start  in  the  next.  Instead  of  Christians,  let  us  have 
whole-souled,  well-developed  men  and  women,  who  will 
do  right  because  right-doing  is  best  for  humanity.  In- 
stead of  Christian  ministers,  let  us  have  human  minis- 
ters, —  men  bound  by  no  creed,  tied  to  no  church, 
cursed  by  no  Bible ;  men  who  wiU  simply  ask,  Wliat 
does  Nature  teach  ?  and,  having  learned  this,  seek  to 
impress  the  truth  on  the  minds  of  their  fellows. 


16 


V 


/ 


\ 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  EIMLITY. 


,li 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  FINALITY. 


We  surpass  the  ancients  in  almost  every  department 
of  literature,  science,  mechanics,  and  art.    Among  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  not  more  than  one  in  a  hundred 
could  read  and  write,  and  among  the  ancient  Jews  still 
fewer.     Charlemagne  of  France,  the  greatest  of  Chris- 
tian kings,  ahout  a  thousand  years  ago,  never  knew 
how  to  write.     Very  few  of  the  French  clergy  knew 
how  to  read,  and  scarcely  any  to  write  ;  and,  in  Eng- 
land, the  condition  of  the  people  was  no  better.     Now 
a  man  so  ignorant  in  this  country  is  a  rarity.    Where 
there  was  one  author  two  thousand  years  ago,  there 
are  a  hundred   now ;    and   our  schools  ^ind  colleges 
contain  thousands  in  the  embryo.     Then  a  book  as 
large  as  Shakspeare's  works  could  only  be  written  by 
the  unremitting  labor  of  a  year;    now  a  dozen  men 
will  turn  out  a  thousand  in  a  day.     Six  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  "  New- York  Tribunes ''  are  printed  every 
week ;  each  containing  as  much  matter  as  the   New 
Testament :  to  write  them  as  they  did  then  would  re- 
quire the  labor  of  a  thousand  men  for  twelve  years. 
It  took  a  fortune  in  those  days  to  buy  a  few  manu- 
scripts ;  now  a  peasant  has  a  library  that  a  Roman 
emperor  would  have  envied. 

245 


246 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  FINALITY;    OR, 


In  astronomy,  we  have  advanced  from  the  childish 
guesses  of  the  Hebrews,  and  the  only  less  wild  conjec- 
tures of  the  Greeks,  to  the  magnificent  works  of  the 
Herschels,  and  the  splendid  and  all  but  demonstrated 
theories  of  La  Place.  The  little  world  made  by  the 
Jewish  Jehovah  in  six  days  ;  that  had  ends,  and  was 
flat;  that  rested  on  pillars, and  was  established  so  that 
it  could  not  be  moved,  —  is  gone  ;  and  in  its  place  we 
have  the  grand  old  earth,  born  of  the  sun  in  the  eter- 
nity of  the  past,  rushing  through  space  bixty  times 
faster  than  a  ball  from  the  mouth  of  a  cannon.  In 
place  of  the  stars  that  were  made  on  the  fourth  day 
after  the  creation  of  the  earth,  to  assist  in  ffiving  lljjht 
upon  it,  and  that  occasionally  fell  when  Jehovah  shook 
the  heavens,  we  have  millions  of  blazing  suns,  some  of 
them  a  thousand  times  larger  than  the  centre  of  our 
system  ;  and,  compared  with  them,  we  find  our  planet 
to  be  but  a  drop  in  an  infinite  ocean.  Wo  have  de- 
ciphered the  hieroglyphics  on  the  rocks,  in  which  the 
history  of  our  planet  is  inscribed  (a  history  all  unknown 
to  the  men  of  the  past)  ;  have  called  up  from  their  long 
sleep  the  hosts  of  organic  forms  which  flourished  during 
the  geologic  ages ;  and  wrested  from  Nature  her  deep 
secrets,  hidden  for  so  long  from  the  most  scrutinizing 
gaze.  Physiology,  phrenology,  chemistry,  sciences 
unknown  to  the  world  two  tliousand  years  ago,  are 
blessing  us  daily  with  their  beautiful  and  useful  reve- 
lations ;  and  the  future  is  big  with  promise  of  new 
sciences  to  be  born,  new  realms  yet  to  be  discovered, 
explored,  and  appropriated. 

I  am  told  that  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt  are  superior 
to  all  modern  structures,  and  that  they  demonstrate 
how  much  the  art  of  the  ancients  was  superior  to  that 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CHRISTIANITY.        247 

of  the  moderns.  But  let  a  hundred  thousand  men  be 
employed  for  thirty  years,  as  they  were  to  make  the 
great  Pyramid,  with  the  appliances  of  modern  mechan- 
ics and  art,  and  they  would  pile  up  a  mountain  like 
Chimborazo,  whose  giant  crest  the  traveller  views  at  a 
distance  of  a  hundred  miles.  For  every  art  supposed 
to  be  lost,  we  have  made  a  hundred ;  and  new  ones 
are  starting  up  daily. 

We  have  to-day  better  houses,  better  heads,  conse- 
quently better  brains  and  better  minds,  better  books, 
better  governments,  than  the  ancients,  and  why  not 
a  better  religion  ?  Having  advanced  in  every  other 
direction,  why  not  in  this  ?  Are  we  to  march  forward 
in  science  with  excelsior  for  our  motto,  looking  upward, 
and  ever  climbing  to  the  untrodden  heights ;  and,  in 
religion,  are  we  to  be  constantly  looking  over  our 
shoulders,  or  groping  in  some  mummy-pit  over  the 
musty  records  of  the  past,  deciphering  mouldy  parch- 
ments,  and  mourning  over  mutilated  manuscripts,  as 
if  God  had  left  his  word  to  the  mercy  of  some  spread- 
ing fungus  or  nibbling  rat  ? 

"  Why  should  we  see  with  dead  men's  eyes, 
Looking  at  Was  from  morn  till  night  ? 
When  the  beauteous  Now^  the  divine  To  he, 
Woo  with  their  charms  the  living  sight  ?  " 


As  the  race  has  advanced  from  its  primitive  barbar- 
ism, it  has  made  for  itself  better  and  better  religious 
forms,  corresponding  with  its  advancement.  Feti- 
chism  was  once  the  best  form  of  religion,  when  men 
worshipped  trees,  stones,  beetles,  snakes,  and  more 
disgusting  objects  still.  ' 


248 


CERISTIANITT  NO  FINALITY;   OR, 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 


249 


^ 


**  ITien  a  crocodile  .served  as  a  reverend  lord, 
And  the  leeks  that  we  eat  were  the  gods  they  adored." 

The  soul  of  man  could  not  always  thus  grovel :  some 
primitive  Moses,  Jesus,  or  Luther,  denounced,  doubt- 
less, as  a  heretic  and  infidel,  scouted  the  snaky  gods, 
and  turned  men's  attention  to  the  heavens.  "  There," 
said  he,  "  is  the  beautiful  sun  :  what  more  glorious 
object  of  worship  can  you  have  ?»  This  makes  our  day  ; 
its  absence,  gloomy  night ;  under  its  benignant  reign 
spring  up  grasses,  flowers,  fruits,  and  all  hearts  are 
cheered.''  Listening  to  him,  they  abandoned  the  old 
gods,  danced  in  circles  at  early  morn,  and  clianted 
hymns  of  praise  to  the  god  of  day.  Heroes  who  had 
slain  wild  beasts,  and  destroyed  neighboring  tribes 
who  were  their  enemies,  in  turn  also  became  gods 
to  be  adored  :  their  deeds  were  emulated  ])y  their 
worshippers ;  and  the  exaggerated  stories  of  their 
exploits  were  handed  down  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration. 

Judaism  at  length  became  possible,  better  than 
some  of  its  predecessors ;  for  it  gave  to  its  adherents 
the  unseen  God,  "  the  Creator  of  the  heavens  and 
earth,"  in  whose  name  a  valuable  moral  code  was  in- 
culcated, and  the  more  flagrant  crimes  sternly  de- 
nounced. But  this  God,  though  invisible,  was  in  human 
shape ;  stern,  revengeful,  passionate,  and,  at  times, 
terribly  cruel.  The  Jews  were  his  children  beloved  ; 
the  Gentiles,  his  illegitimate  offspring,  whom  the  Jews 
were  commissioned  by  him  to  destroy  whenever  they 
interfered  with  their  convenience  or  pleasure. 

As  men's  minds  expanded,  the  Jewish  God,  and  the 
ritual  founded  in  his  name,  could  no  longer  command 


their  respect.  Jesus  inaugurates  a  new  pra,  and  su- 
persedes Judaism,  as  the  dawn  does  the  light  of  the 
stars.  God  is  the  Father  of  the  human  race :  the  sun 
that  shines  on  all,  the  rain  that  drops  so  impartially 
on  all,  are  the  fit  emblems  of  his  unbiassed  love.  The 
burden  of  superstitious  rites  and  ceremonies,  the  offer- 
ing of  sacrifices,  the  sabbaths,  and  the  yearly  pilgrim- 
ag'es,  are  abolished.  Faith  in  Jesus,  and  obedience 
to  his  simple  doctrine,  are  all  that  the  new  religion 

demands. 

But  is  Christianity,  even  as  Jesus  taught  it,  a  final- 
ity ?  Did  this  Galilean  mechanic  exhaust  the  Infinite  ? 
Has  Nature  no  deeper  secrets  than  he  revealed  ?  Did 
he  climb  higher  than  mortal  can  ever  again  rise  ?  Did 
he  alone  know  the  way  of  life,  and  are  we  doomed  to 
walk  implicitly  in  his  footsteps,  or  forever  go  astray? 
So  thought  the  Jew  of  Moses;  so  thinks  the  Turk  of 
Mohammed,  and  the  Mormon  of  Joseph  Smith. 

We  dream  not  that  we  have  approached  the  Infinite 
in  any  other  direction.     Ask  the  best  musician  if  he 
has  exhausted  the  possibilities  of  his  science  and  art, 
and  he  will  tell  you  that  we  have  but  ascended  to  the 
clouds  ;  and  the  infinite  heaven  of  harmony  lies  beyond, 
yet  to  be  scaled,  and  yet  to  be  enjoyed.     The  geologist 
knows  that  we  have  but  deciphered  a  few  torn  leaves 
of  a  mighty  volume,  whose  unread  lore  will  feast  ex- 
plorers for  ages  to  come.     Ask  the  astronomer  if  the 
last  star  in  the  firmament  has  yielded  to  him  its  secrets, 
and  the  heavens  have  no  more  to  reveal,  and  he  will 
tell  you  that  he  is  but  a  babe,  who  has  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  a  few  pebbles  on  the  shore  of  the  ocean, 
whose  unfathomable  waters  spread  illimitably  around 
him.     What  would  be  thought  of  the  man  who  should 


-I 


250 


CHRISTIAHITT  NO  FINALITY;   OR, 


attempt  to  tinchor  us  where  our  present  attainments 
are  in  these  sciences  ?  He  would  be  justly  regarded  as 
a  foe  to  the  human  race.  Was  Jesus  greater  in  reli- 
gion titan  Newton  and  Herschel  in  astronomy,  than 
Lyell  in  geology,  or  Humboldt  in  general  science  ?  Wo 
certainly  have  no  evidence  of  it.  If  we  are  to  rely 
upon  the  New-Testament  record,  and  we  have  no  other, 
his  deficiencies,  and  that  of  his  religion,  are  most 
manifest. 

It  is,  in  the  first  place,  most  sadly  deficient  in  the 
ability  to  give  to  the  sceptic  any  evidence  of  life  beyond 
the  grave.  Judaism,  it  is  true,  was  more  deficient:  it 
lacked  even  hope.  Job  says  (Job  vii.  9),  "As  the  cloud 
is  consumed  and  vanisheth  away,  so  he  that  goeth  down 
to  the  grave  shall  come  up  no  more ; ''  and  certainly,  if 
man  does  go  down  to  the  grave,  he  comes  up  no  more : 
but  man  does  no  such  thing.  And  David  (Ps.  cxlvi.  4) : 
"  His  breath  goeth  forth,  he  returneth  to  his  earth ;  in 
that  very  day  his  thoughts  perish."  And  Solomon 
(Eccl.  iii.  18-22) :  "  I  said  in  my  heart  concern- 
ing the  estate  of  the  sons  of  men,  that  God  might 
manifest  them,  and  that  they  might  see  that  they  them- 
selves are  beasts.  For  that  which  befalleth  the  sons 
of  men  befalleth  the  beasts ;  even  one  thing  befalleth 
them:  as  the  one  dieth,  so  dieth  the  other;  yea,  they 
have  all  one  breath;  so  that  a  man  hath  no  pre-eminence 
above  a  beast :  for  all  is  vanity.  All  go  unto  one  place ; 
all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  to  dust  again.  Who 
knoweth  the  spirit  of  man  that  goeth  upward,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  beast  that  goeth  downward  to  the  earth  ? 
Wherefore  I  perceive  that  there  is  nothing  better  than 
that  a  man  should  rejoice  in  his  own  works ;  for  that  is 
his  portion :  for  who  shall  bring  him  to  see  what  shall 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CnRISTIANITT.        251 

be  after  him  ?  "  So  said  the  grossly  material  Solomon, 
who  drank  the  cup  of  pleasure  to  the  dregs,  and  then 
called  it  bitter.  I  suppose  it  was  in  this  spirit  that  he 
married  seven  hundred  wives,  and  took  three  hundred 
concubines,  the  result  of  which  he  gives  us  in  his 
despairing  words,  "  All  is  vanity." 

Christianity,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  is  far  in 
advance  of  this.     By  the  mouth  of  Jesus,  it  exclaims, 
"  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions :  I  go  to 
prepare  a  place  for  you,  that,  where  I  am,  there  ye  may 
be  also."     Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  still  live,  and 
Moses  and  Elias  appear  on  the  mountain,  and  talk. 
Paul  says, "  To  be  absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  present 
with  the  Lord,"  and  "  If  our  earthly  house  of  this  tab- 
ernacle were  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  a 
house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 
Blessed  words !  —  how  many  sinking  souls  they  have 
buoyed  when  the  billows  had  well-nigh  gone  over  them  I 
What  hosts  of  hearts  they  have  gladdened,  as  they  trod 
the  dark  valley,  with  no  light  but  the  star  of  Chris- 
tianity to  cheer  them !    Let  us  thankfully  acknowledge 
the  good  of  the  old,  though  we  prefer  the  new :  the 
light  of  the  stars  is  joyously  accepted  before  the  morn- 
ing breaks. 

But  how  little  comfort  the  doubter  obtains  from 
these!  How  meagre  the  evidence  of  future  existence 
which  the  Christian  can  give  to  those  who  dispute  it ! 
"  How  know  you,  my  brother,  that  you  will  live  when 
this  body  dies  ;  that  there  is  a  bridge  that  spans  the 
broad,  dark  chasm  of  death  ? "  We  pause  for  his 
reply.  "  Jesus  died,  and  rose  again  triumphant ;  and, 
because  he  lives,  we  shall  live  also."— "But  how  do 
you  know  that  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead  ?  " — "  We  have 


252 


CBRISTIANITT  NO  FIKALITY;    OR, 


the  testimony  of  those  wlio  saw  him  after  his  resurrec- 
tion,—  the  disciples  with  whom  he  brake  bread  after 
he  rose,  who  saw,  conversed  with,  and  even  liandled 
him ;  the  five  hundred  brethren  who  saw  him  at  once 
and  never  doubted  his  triumph  over  death  and  the 
grave."—  "  But  where  do  you  find  all  this  ?  '» —  "  In  the 
New  Testament."     In  vain  the  sceptic  looks  for  what 
would  justify  such  an  extravagant  statement.     Hero 
are  accounts  by  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  and 
the   merest  mention   in   the   Epistle  of   Peter,  and, 
besides  this,  absolutely  nothing  from  any  one  pretend- 
ing to  be  an  eye-witness  of  these  occurrences.     Let  us 
examine  what  we  possess.     How  much  of  it  would 
be  taken  in  a  court  of  justice  ? 

Mark's  Gospel  appears  to  have  been  transcribed  from 
previous  records ;  and  we  have  no  evidence  that  the 
writer  ever  saw  Jesus,  either  after  his  death  or  before. 
Even  Orthodox  commentators  do  not  pretend  to  know 
when  his  Gospel  was  written,  or  what  Mark  wrote  it. 
"  Of  Mark,  little,  certainly,  is  known,"  says  Albert 
Barnes  the  Orthodox  commentator.  Again  :  he  says, 
"He  was  not  an  apostle  or  companion  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  during  his  ministry."  We  cannot,  therefore, 
accept  his  statement :  it  would  be  ruled  out  of  court 
at  once. 

Luke  does  not  profess  to  have  been  an  eye-witness 
of  any  of  the  events  that  he  relates ;  he  merely  pro- 
fesses  (Luke  i.  1)  to  set  forth,  in  order,  a  declaration  of 
what  was  most  surely  believed  among  the  Christians 
of  that  time;  and  his  statement  can  do  but  little 
more  in  establishing  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  than 
the  statement  of  a  Christian's  belief  in  it  at  this  day. 

The  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  John  arc,  however, 


SPIPdTUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CHRISTIANITY.        253 


believed  by  most  Christians  to  have  been  written  by 
the  men  whose  names  they  bear,  who  saw  Jesus  before 
his  death,  and  after  he  rose  from  the  dead;  and 
who  are,  in  every  respect,  competent  witnesses.  This 
can  never  be  proved  ;  but,  for  the  sake  of  the  argu- 
ment, we  will  grant  it. 

Let  Matthew  be  examined.     "  Matthew,  did  you  see 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  die?"— '^I  did  not:    when  the 
multitude  came  with  swords  and  staves  to  take  Jesus, 
we  all  forsook  him,  and  fled."  —  "  What  was  done  with 
his  body  ?  "  —  "  Joseph  of  Arimathca  buried  it  in  a  new 
sepulchre  in  his  garden."  — "  Who  went  to  the  sep- 
ulchre on  the  first  day  of  the  week?  "  —  "  Mary  Magda- 
lene and  the  other  Mary"  (Matt,  xxviii.  1).     "  What 
did  they  see  ?  "  — "  An  angel,  who  said,  Fear  not  ye  ; 
for  I  know  that  ye  seek  Jesus,  which  was  crucified. 
lie  is  not  hero  ;    for  he  is  risen,  as  he   said.     Go 
quickly,  and  tell  his  disciples  that  he  is  risen  from  the 
dead  ;  and,  behold,  he  goeth  before  you  into  Gali- 
lee ;  there  shall  ye  see  him  :  lo,  I  have  told  you  ! "  — 
"Did  tiiese  women  see  Jesus  on  that  occasion?"  — 
"  They  did :   as  they  were  going  to  tell  the  disciples, 
they  saw  him,  held  him  by  the  feet,  and  worshipped 
him  ;   and  he  said, '  Gd  tell  my  brethren  that  they  go 
into  Galilee,  and  there  they  shall  sec  me.'  "  —  "  What 
then  ?  "  — "  Then  the  eleven  disciples  went  away  into 
Galilee  into  a  mountain  where  Jesus  had  appointed 
them  ;  and,  when  they  saw  him,  they  worshipped  him  : 
but  some  doubted"  (Matt,  xxviii.  16, 17). 

Let  us  look  at  Matthew's  testimony  for  a  moment. 
An  angel  tells  the  two  women  to  go  quickly  and  tell 
the  disciples  of  Jesus  that  he  is  risen  from  the  dead, 
and  goes  before  them  into  Galileo,  and  that  they  shall 


254 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  FINALITY;   OB, 


see  him  there  ;  and,  on  their  seeing  Jesus,  he  adds, 
"  Go  tell  my  brethren  that  they  go  into  Galilee,  and 
there  they  shall  see  me."  What  was  meant  to  be  con- 
veyed  by  these  commands  ?  Tliat  Jesus  was  on  his 
way  to  Galilee,  and  that  he  did  not  intend  to  see  them 
till  he  should  see  them  there  ;  then  that  the  disciples 
went  at  once  to  Galilee,  and  there  first  saw  Jesus. 
Nothing  else  can  be  fairly  gathered  from  them. 

"  Now,  John,  let  us  hear  your  testimony.  Did  you 
see  Jesus  of  Nazareth  die  ?  "  — "I  did :  I  was  standinfT 
near  his  mother,  looking  on  at  the  time." 

"  Who  went  to  the  sepulchre  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week  ?  "  —  "  Mary  Magdalene."  — "  What  did  she 
see  ?  "  —  "  She  saw  no  one,  but  found  that  the  body  of 
Jesus  was  gone."  —  "  What  did  she  do  ?  "  —  "  She  ran 
and  told  Peter  and  me ;  and  we  ran  to  the  sepulchre,  and 
found  it  to  be  as  she  had  told  us ;  and  then  we  went 
home."  — "  What  became  of  her  ?  "  — "  She  remained 
there  weeping;  and,  looking  into  the  sepulchre,  she  saw 
two  angels  who  asked  her  why  she  wept ;  and,  after  tell- 
ing them,  she  turned  and  saw  Jesus,  but  thought  he  was 
the  gardener,  but,  on  his  speaking,  recognized  him.  Ho 
said, '  Touch  me  not,  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  my 
Fatlier  ;  but  go  to  my  brethren,  and  say  unto  them,  I 
ascend  unto  my  Father  and  your  Father,  and  to  my 
God  and  your  God.'  "  —  "  What  did  the  disciples  do  ?  " 
—  "  They  remained  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  same  day,  at 
evening,  all  but  Tliomas  being  in  an  upper  room  for 
fear  of  tlie  Jews,  Jesus  appeared  to  them  and  made 
them  glad.  Eight  days  afterwards,  ho  appeared  to 
them  again  In  the  same  place  ;  and,  Thomas  being 
present,  satisfied  him  also  of  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead." 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CHRISTIANITY,        255 


From  John,  then,  we  learn  that  Jesus  appeared  to  his 
disciples  in  Jerusalem  on  the  same  day  that  he  rose 
from  the  dead,  and  satisfied  all  but  Thomas  of  his  res- 
urrection ;  but,  according  to  Matthew,  when  the  eleven 
disciples  saw  him  in  Galilee,  some  doubted.    This  must, 
therefore,  have  been  before  he  was  seen  in  Jerusalem ; 
for  they  could  not  have  doubted  in  Galilee  if  they  had 
previously  been   satisfied   in   Jerusalem.      To    make 
Matthew's  statement  and  John's  even  appear  to  agree, 
the  disciples  must  have  first  seen  Jesus  on  the  moun- 
tain at  Galilee,  and   then  at  Jerusalem:  but,  to  do 
this,  they  must,  when  Mary  Magdalene  and  the  other 
Mary  gave  them  the  imperative  word  of  Jesus,  have 
gone  at  once  to  Galilee,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem  in 
time  for  the  evening's  appearance  on  the  same  day ; 
which  would  involve  a  journey  of  at  least  a  hundred  and 
twenty  miles,  to  say  nothing  of  climbing  the  moun- 
tain.  But  those  were  not  days  of  railroads,  steamboats, 
nor  even  stage-coaches ;  and  we  see  at  once,  if  their 
other  discrepancies  had  not  satisfied  us,  that  these  pre- 
tended eye-witnesses  are  deceiving  us.     In  court,  they 
would  be  in  danger  of  trial  for  perjury. 
Although  we  have  granted  that  Matthew  wrote  the 
.    gospel  attributed  to  him,  there  is  good  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  he  never  did  write  a  word  of  it.     Could  he 
have  seen  Jesus,  as  John  represents,  on  the  very  day 
that  he  rose  from  the  dead,  in  an  upper  room  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  yet  have  represented  that  Jesus  was  first 
seen  at  Galilee,  at  least  sixty  miles  off,  and  never  have 
said  a  word  about  his  appearance  at  Jerusalem  ?     It  is 
impossible. 

"  What  liave  we  left,  then  ?  "  — "  The  five  hundred 
who  saw  Jesus  at  once."  —  "  Who  are  they  ?    Where 


256 


CHItlSTIANITT  NO  FINALITY;   OR 


is  their  testimony  ?  " — "  Nowhere  :  Paul  sai/a  that  five 
hundred  brethren  saw  him  at  once."  Very  different, 
indeed,  from  the  testimony  of  these  five  hundred,  no 
name  even  of  one  being  given. 

We  have,  beside  this,  the  testimony  of  Peter,  who  is 
supposed  to  have  been  an  eye-witness  ;  but  it  amounts 
to  little.  All  that  he  says  is,  God  '^  hath  begotten  us 
again  to  a  lively  hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  from  the  dead  ;  "  and  "  God  raised  him  up  from 
the  dead."  And  this  is  absolutely  all  from  those  pre- 
tending to  have  known  Jesus  when  alive.  Paul 
evidently  knew  nothing  of  him  personally.  If  some 
of  those  who  saw  Jesus  doubted,  —  the  very  disciples, 
while  looking  upon  the  face  of  their  risen  Master,  —  well 
may  the  sceptic  doubt  to-day,  with  nothing  but  such 
meagre  and  contradictory  evidence  before  him  as  this. 
On  what  a  slender  thread  this  momentous  doctrine  has 
hung !  Man's  strong  desire  for  immortality  has  led  him 
to  clutch  at  any  straw  to  save  him  from  the  abyss  of 
nothingness  in  which  death  threatened  to  plunge  him, 
or  such  testimony  as  this  never  could  have  been 
accepted. 

But  suppose  that  Jesus  did  rise  from  the  dead  :  he 
rose  with  his  flesh,  blood,  and  bones,  —  a  proper  physical 
man.  He  says,  "  A  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as 
ye  see  me  have."  He  ate  broiled  fish  and  honeycomb  ; 
showing  that  lie  was  actually  the  same  being  after 
death  as  before.  But  we  can  never  rise  in  this  way : 
our  friends  have  perished,  if  this  is  the  only  resurrec- 
tion possible.  Some  lie  in  trenches  in  the  bloody  fields 
of  the  South,  and  their  decomposing  remains  give  ver- 
dure to  the  palmetto  that  waves  over  them:  some 
sank  into  the  turbid  Mississippi,  with  the  vessels  they 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CHRISTIANITY.        257 


bravely  defended :  others  were  lost  at  sea,  and  sharks 
became  their  living  sepulchres  ;  or  were  burned  up  in 
houses  and  ships,  and  the  particles  of  their  bodies 
have  been  wafted  over  the  globe  on  the  wings  of  a 
thousand  winds.  They  have  become  parts  of  other 
human  bodies ;  and  how  can  these  ever  be  recovered 
and  re-animated  ?  It  cannot  be,  in  the  nature  of  things. 
If  we  had  no  other  evidence  than  this,  well  might  we 
weep  on  the  death  of  our  friends,  as  those  who  have  no 
hope  I  Christianity,  then,  utterly  fails  to  give  to  the 
sceptic  any  evidence  of  life  beyond  the  grave.  When 
he  asks  for  evidence  on  the  most  important  question 
that  the  soul  of  man  can  consider,  it  is  silent  as  a  skel- 
eton, or  chatters  but  to  reveal  its  imbecility. 

Spiritualism  is,  in  this  respect,  almost  infinitely  su- 
perior. Christianity  rests  on  faith,  spiritualism  on 
knowledge.  The  one  is  a  historical  statement,  the 
other  a  living  fact.  Christianity  says,  "  Blessed  are 
they  who  have  not  seen,  and  yet  believed ;  "  thus  offer- 
ing a  premium  for  blind  faith.  Spiritualism  says, 
"  Come  hither,  yc  sceptics :  hear,  sec,  feci,  and  know 
that  your  departed  friends  still  live  ;  and,  because  they 
live,  receive  the  assurance  that  yc  sliall  live  also." 

Tiie  riddle  of  the  universe  is  read,  the  mystery  of 
ages  is  revealed  ;  the  question  that  we  have  been  ask- 
ing with  tearful  eyes  for  long  millenniums  is  answered 
in  the  affirmative,  and  wc  are  men  for  the  ages  to 
come.  Tell  the  Indian  it  was  not  all  a  delusion  that 
his  medicine-man  taught  him :  the  Indian  lives  where 
the  pale-face  interferes  not  with  his  domain,  and  the 
hell  of  the  Christian  is  unknown.  There  is  a  paradise 
for  the  Mohammedan  better  suited  to  his  soul's  needs 
tlian  the  one  promised  by  Mohammed  to  the  faithful - 

17 


258 


CnmSTIANlTT  NO  FINAUTT:   OR, 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO  CHRISTIANITY.         259 


What  Socrates  hoped  for,  Jesus  taught,  and  Paul  be- 
licved,  we  know.  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  life,  joy- 
ful life. 

Who  are  the  witnesses?  No  long-dead  Peter, 
Matthew,  or  John,  but  living  men  and  women,  who  can 
be  questioned.  Not  three  or  four,  of  whom  some  may 
have  been  doubters;  but  unnumbered  thousands, 
spread  over  the  broad  land,  some  of  whom  may  be  met 
and  cross-questioned  every  day.  Not  merely  the  igno- 
rant and  superstitious,  like  the  fishermen  of  Galilee, 
who  seem  to  have  been  prepared  for  any  story,  however 
marvellous,  but  sceptics  like  the  Owens,  Hare,  and 
Elliotson;  such  men  and  women  as  Thackeray,  the 
Howitts  and  Halls,  Dr.  Ashburner,  Lord  Lyndhurst, 
Alfred  R.  Wallace,  Epes  Sargent,  Prof.  Gunning, 
Prof.  Mapes,  Drs.  Hallock  and  Brittan,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Archbishop  Whately  and  hosts  of  others, 
many  of  whom  were  convinced  notwithstanding  the 
strongest  prejudice  against  it.  Ministers  in  Orthodox 
pulpits  have  seen  and  believed,  and  preach  now  witli  a 
power  on  the  subject  of  future  life  such  as  Chris- 
tianity never  could  give.  Sceptics  the  most  deter- 
mined have  found  their  scepticism  melting  like  snow 
before  the  sun  of  this  truth. 

Litelligent  witnesses  indeed  we  have,  numbering 
hundreds  of  thousands,  whose  word  upon  any  ordinary 
sul  ject  would  be  taken  at  once ;  and,  if  the  fact  of 
spiritual  intercourse  cannot  be  established,  it  is  in  vain 
to  attempt  to  establish  any  very  remarkable  fact  by 
human  testimony. 

Christianity  is  a  miraculous  religion.  The  earth 
and  man  are  miraculously  created  ;  the  earth  will  be 
miraculously  destroyed;   and  man  will  miraculously 


<. 


die,  since  the  constitution  of  man  at  first  was  such 
that  he  would  not  have  died  if  God  had  not  cursed 
him.  He  is  to  be  miraculously  raised  from  the  dead 
by  the  miraculously  begotten  and  resurrected  Jesus. 
Future  life  is  consequently  miraculous  :  "  It  is  the 
gift  of  God ; "  and  those  only  can  live  to  whom  it  is 
given. 

All  this  is  sadly  out  of  joint :  it  fails  to  harmonize 
with  what  we  know  of  Nature  in  the  past,  and  hence 
we  may  fairly  presume  that  it  does  with  what  is  to  be 
in  the  future.  Men  are  learning  that  the  earth  came 
to  be  as  it  is  by  the  operation  of  law,  and  man  came 
in  like  manner.  As  his  life  here  came  naturally,  so 
comes  his  life  hereafter.  The  spirit  lives  when  the 
body  dies,  by  virtue  of  its  nature :  it  cannot  do  other- 
wise. Immortality  is  not  the  gift  of  a  jealous  Jehovah, 
who  may,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  withhold  it,  and  drop  us  into 
nonentity :  we  live  as  the  sun  shines,  because  it  is  its 
nature. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  a  religion  so  interwoven  with 
miracle  miraculously  changes  all  persons  at  death,  so 
as  to  destroy  their  individuality,  and  give  future  exist- 
ence not  to  the  same  individuals,  but  to  the  beings  into 
whom  they  have  been  thus  changed.  Heaven  is  the 
miraculous  home  of  the  righteous  few,  hell  the  mirac- 
ulous prison  for  the  wicked  many.  The  good  alone 
are  to  be  admitted  to  heaven  ;  no  unclean  thing  can 
enter  it:  but,  since  all  men  are  partly  good  and  partly 
bad,  all  who  enter  there  must  be  so  changed  as  to  be 
quite  different  individuals.  What  wife  would  recog- 
nize her  quick-tempered  husband,  what  husband  would 
know  his  fretful  wife,  when  two  immaculate  angels 
had  taken  their  places  ?     Where  are  the  good  fit  for 


258 


CHRISTIANITT  NO  FINALITY;   OR, 


\^ 


What  Socrates  hoped  for,  Jesus  taught,  and  Paul  be- 
lieved, we  know.  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  life,  joy- 
ful life. 

Who  are  the  witnesses?  No  long-dead  Peter, 
Matthew,  or  John,  but  living  men  and  women,  who  can 
be  questioned.  Not  three  or  four,  of  whom  some  may 
have  been  doubters ;  but  unnumbered  thousands, 
spread  over  the  broad  land,  some  of  whom  may  be  met 
and  cross-questioned  every  day.  Not  merely  the  igno- 
rant and  superstitious,  like  the  fishermen  of  Galilee, 
who  seem  to  have  been  prepared  for  any  story,  however 
marvellous,  but  sceptics  like  the  Owens,  Hare,  and 
Elliotson ;  such  men  and  women  as  Thackeray,  the 
Howitts  and  Halls,  Dr.  Ashburner,  Lord  Lyndhurst, 
Alfred  R.  Wallace,  Epes  Sargent,  Prof.  Gunning, 
Prof.  Mapes,  Drs.  Hallock  and  Brittan,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Archbishop  Whately  and  hosts  of  others, 
many  of  whom  were  convinced  notwithstanding  the 
strongest  prejudice  against  it.  Ministers  in  Orthodox 
pulpits  have  seen  and  believed,  and  preach  now  with  a 
power  on  the  subject  of  future  life  such  as  Chris- 
tianity never  could  give.  Sceptics  the  most  deter- 
mined have  found  their  scepticism  melting  like  snow 
before  the  sun  of  this  truth. 

Intelligent  witnesses  indeed  we  have,  numbering 
hundreds  of  thousands,  whose  word  upon  any  ordinary 
subject  would  be  taken  at  once ;  and,  if  the  fact  of 
spiritual  intercourse  cannot  be  established,  it  is  in  vain 
to  attempt  to  establish  any  very  remarkable  fact  by 
human  testimony. 

Christianity  is  a  miraculous  religion.  The  earth 
and  man  are  miraculously  created  ;  the  earth  will  be 
miraculously  destroyed ;   and  man  will  miraculously 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CHRISTIANITT.         259 


die,  since  the  constitution  of  man  at  first  was  such 
that  he  would  not  have  died  if  God  had  not  cursed 
him.  He  is  to  be  miraculously  raised  from  the  dead 
by  the  miraculously  begotten  and  resurrected  Jesus. 
Future  life  is  consequently  miraculous  :  "  It  is  the 
gift  of  God ; "  and  those  only  can  live  to  whom  it  is 

given. 

All  this  is  sadly  out  of  joint :  it  fails  to  harmonize 
with  what  we  know  of  Nature  in  the  past,  and  hence 
we  may  fairly  presume  that  it  does  with  what  is  to  be 
in  the  future.  Men  are  learning  that  the  earth  came 
to  be  as  it  is  by  the  operation  of  law,  and  man  came 
in  like  manner.  As  his  life  here  came  naturally,  so 
comes  his  life  hereafter.  The  spirit  lives  when  the 
body  dies,  by  virtue  of  its  nature :  it  cannot  do  other- 
wise. Immortality  is  not  the  gift  of  a  jealous  Jehovah, 
who  may,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  withhold  it,  and  drop  us  into 
nonentity  :  we  live  as  the  sun  shines,  because  it  is  its 
nature. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  a  religion  so  interwoven  with 
miracle  miraculously  changes  all  persons  at  death,  so 
as  to  destroy  their  individuality,  and  give  future  exist- 
ence not  to  the  same  individuals,  but  to  the  beings  into 
whom  they  have  been  thus  changed.  Heaven  is  the 
miraculous  home  of  the  righteous  few,  hell  the  mirac- 
ulous prison  for  the  wicked  many.  The  good  alone 
are  to  be  admitted  to  heaven  ;  no  unclean  thing  can 
enter  it :  but,  since  all  men  are  partly  good  and  partly 
bad,  all  who  enter  there  must  be  so  changed  as  to  be 
quite  different  individuals.  What  wife  would  recog- 
nize her  quick-tempered  husband,  what  husband  would 
know  his  fretful  wife,  when  two  immaculate  angels 
had  taken  their  places  ?     Where  are  the  good  fit  for 


V 


260 


CHRISTIANITT  NO  FINALITY;   OR, 


SPiniTUALISM  SUPERIOR    TO  CHRISTIANITY. 


261 


•'1 


tbe  heaven  of  the  New  Testament  ?  From  Abel,  who 
was  slain  because  he  was  more  righteous  than  his 
brother,  to  Washington,  the  patron  saint  of  America, 
there  never  was  a  good  man,  —  never  a  man  who  did 
not  he,  who  did  not  at  some  time  become  angry,  who 
was  not  envious  or  jealous  or  mean.  If  none  but  the 
good  go  to  heaven,  then  it  is  as  empty  as  an  Orthodox 
church  on  week-days,  and  God  is  a  king  without  a 
subject.  Nor  are  there  any  bad  men  :  from  Cain,  who 
murdered  his  brother,  to  Arnold,  who  tried  to  murder 
his  country,  there  never  was  a  man  all  bad,  —  one  in 
whose  heart  pity  never  dwelt,  from  whose  purse  char- 
ity never  drew  a  cent,  nor  pity  from  his  eye  a  tear; 
who  never  spoke  the  truth  when  it  was  possible  to  lie, 
nor  said  a  kind  word  or  did  a  good  deed  during  his 
miserable  life.  If  none  but  the  bad  are  sent  to  hell, 
that  is  just  as  empty  as  heaven. 

A  religion  that  teaches  such  a  doctrine  as  this  can- 
not be  a  finality.  Science  in  this  nineteenth  century 
says  to  Miracle,  "Away,  hag  of  the  night! "  and  she 
hides  her  deformed  countenance.  We  have  rent  the 
veil  of  miracle  that  hid  from  us  the  orderly  operations 
of  Nature,  and  everywhere  we  see  law  and  its  manifes- 
tations ;  and,  in  harmony  with  that,  we  also  see  that 
men  must  be  themselves,  if  there  is  to  be  any  future 
life  for  them.  All  human  beings  are  mixed  :  the 
sheep  are  not  destitute  of  hair  and  beard,  and  might 
be  at  times  mistaken  for  goats;  the  goats  are  not 
without  wool,  and  some  have  a  striking  resemblance 
to  sheep.  Prom  the  best  man  to  the  worst,  there  is  an 
infinite  gradation  ;  and  Omnipotence  itself  can  draw  no 
line  between  the  bad  to  be  doomed  to  a  Christian  hell, 
and  the  good  doomed  to  a  Christian   heaven.     Tlie 


natural  consequences  of  our  misdeeds,  in  a  realm 
without  miracle,  cling  to  us,  —  as  much  a  part  of  us 
as  our  memory  ;  and  not  even  God  can  rob  us  of  the 
fruit  of  our  good  actions,  ours  to  enjoy  while  life  en- 
dures. At  one  blow,  away  go  the  Christian's  hell  and 
heaven  :  they  are  foreign  to  the  universe  ;  and  in  their 
place  we  have  a  spiritual  realm  for  all,  where  the 
good-doer  can  rejoice  in  the  society  of  the  philan- 
thropic, and  with  them  lay  plans  for  humanity's  bene- 
fit, and  where  the  evil-doer  may  learn  the  folly  of  his 
ways,  cease  to  do  evil,  learn  to  do  well,  and  reap  the 
reward  of  well-doing. 

The  temporary  nature  of  Christianity  is  plainly  in- 
dicated by  its  indorsement  of  the  Old  Testament,  Jesus 
was  never  able  entirely  to  outgrow  the  prejudices  of 
his  Jewish  education.  "  One  jot  or  one  tittle,"  says  he, 
"  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law,  till  all  be  ful- 
filled." "  The  scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat : 
all,  therefore,  whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe,  that 
observe  and  do."  As  if  the  doctrine  of  these  Jewish 
law-expounders  was  all  divine !  Jesus  refers  to  the  old 
stories  of  the  Jewish  Bible  as  if  he  believed  them ;  and 
he  evidently  did ;  and  even  takes  the  marvellous  tale  of 
Jonah  for  true,  and  refers  to  prophecies  of  himself  in 
the  Old  Testament  which  certainly  have  no  existence. 
It  is  no  wonder,  when  Swedenborg,  in  many  respects 
a  superior  man  to  Jesus,  was  never  able  to  shake  off 
the  biblical  shackles  in  which  his  sectarian  education 
had  bound  him. 

Christianity,  therefore,  indorses  the  Old  Testament, 
and  drags  around  this  shockingly  offensive  corpse,  that 
is  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  all  intelligent  and  unprej- 
udiced people.    It  takes  this  old  bottle  of  Judaism,  and 


262 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  FINALITY,-   OB, 


puts  into  it  the  new,  and  in  some  respects  better,  reli- 
gion of  Jesus,  and,  in  consequence,  destroys  its  flavor, 
and  renders  it  unfit  for  our  acceptance. 

Following  in  their  Master's  footsteps,  the  Christians 
of  the  present  day  not  only  indorse  the  Old  Testament 
and  its  absurdities,  but  also  the  New  Testament,  with 
some  absurdities  greater  than  the  writers  of  the  Old 
ever  dreamed  of.  To  be  wiser  than  the  Bible  is  to  the 
true  Christian  impossible :  to  teach  that  it  can  ever  be 
superseded  is  blasphemy.  It  is  his  chart ;  and  by  it  he 
will  be  guided,  though  his  judgment  tells  him  tliat  it 
is  wrong  a  thousand  times  a  day. 

What  would  be  thought  of  the  geographer  who  should 
found  a  class  in  geography  based  upon  the  old  atlas 
of  Ptolemy ;  every  one  of  the  class  signing  a  declara- 
tion that  Ptolemy's  atlas  was  constructed  by  God  him- 
self, and  contained  all  of  geography  that  it  was  neces- 
sary for  man  to  know  ?  What  progress  could  they  ever 
make  ?  How  they  would  fight  against  every  new  geo- 
graphical discovery,  and  denounce  every  discoverer  as 
a  heretic !  What  an  arch  infidel  Columbus  would  have 
been  regarded  by  such  a  class  in  his  day  !  Thus  it  was, 
in  the  time  of  Galileo,  with  the  Bible  believers.  No 
sooner  did  he  discover  in  the  heavens  what  could  not 
be  found  in  the  Bible,  than  he  was  cast  into  prison  as 
a  reward  for  his  superior  knowledge.  To-day,  such  men 
as  Darwin,  Vogt,  Huxley,  and  Spencer  are  looked  upon 
with  suspicion,  and  denounced,  because  they  have  dis- 
covered new  realms  that  the  Bible  does  not  describe, 
and  that  make  it  evident  that  a  great  deal  which  the 
Bible  does  describe  is  false.  They  have  learned  that 
Nature  is  infinitely  wider  than  the  Bible  writers  ever 
dreamed,  and  exceedingly  ditferent  from  their  repre- 


8PIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR    TO   CHRISTIANITY.         263 


sentations ;  and  they  may  expect  to  be  cursed  by  all 
who  have  sworn  to  be  no  wiser  than  the  men  of  two 
thousand  years  ago. 

We  must  say  to  the  Bible, "  Henceforth  you  take  your 
place  by  the  side  of  all  other  books.  We  are  not  to  be 
deceived  by  your  expanded  size,  your  embossed  covers, 
nor  your  gilded  leaves.  You  must  be  content  to  be 
treated  as  we  treat  Milton's  '  Paradise  Lost,'  Shaks- 
peare's  ' Plays,'  and  Bunyan's  'Pilgrim's  Progress.'" 
And  to  Jesus,  "  You  can  no  longer  be  our  master. 
We  do  not  object  to  you  as  a  brother  or  a  teacher :  as 
such  we  will  place  you  with  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Con- 
fucius,— just  as  good  men  in  their  way  as  you  were  in 
yours.  You  must  not  come  between  us  and  Nature, 
our  mother, — just  as  much  ours  as  yours.  The  man 
who  pretends  to  possess  a  monopoly  of  Heaven's  favors, 
and,  in  the  name  of  God,  lords  it  over  his  fellows,  is 
either  self-deceived  or  an  impostor ;  and  in  either  case 
is  a  very  poor  guide."  To  the  Jewish  Jehovah,  "  You 
are  as  truly  an  idol  as  the  gods  denounced  in  your 
name :  they  were  the  work  of  men's  hands,  and  you  of 
men's  brains.  You  never  made  the  world,  or  you 
could  have  informed  us  how  you  made  it.  Neither  you 
nor  your  Son  ever  redeemed  the  world,  for  it  is  not 
redeemed  ;  and  the  deliverance  that  has  come  to  it  has 
come  in  a  very  different  channel  from  yours.  You 
have  long  enough  been  a  stumbling-block  in  the  world's 
pathway :  we  move  you  to  one  side,  that  the  car  of 
progress  may  advance." 

The  indorsement  of  the  divinity  of  the  old  Jewish 
records  has  been  the  curse  of  Christianity  from  its  com 
mencement.  It  prevented  the  disciples  of  Jesus  from 
preaching  it  among  the  Samaritans  and  Gentiles  during 


264 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  FINALITY ;   OR, 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR    TO   CHRISTIANITY.        265 


the  lifetime  of  its  founder  ;  and,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
partial  emancipation  of  Paul,  it  would  liave  strangled  it 
at  its  birth.  It  has  produced  a  continual  warfare  be- 
tween it  and  science,  which  will  without  doubt  end  in 
its  death.  It  curses  Unitarianism  and  Universalism 
to-day.  They  are  trying  to  run  with  heavy  Jewish 
shackles  on  their  legs  and  this  ponderous  Bible  on  their 
backs.  Brethren,  drop  your  Bibles  ;  if  they  cannot  go 
alone,  leave  them  behind  :  snap  your  Jewish  shackles ; 
unite  with  all  who  are  laboring  to  benefit  humanity, 
taking  and  giving  the  utmost  freedom :  then  failure  will 
be  as  impossible  as  success  is  now. 

With  the  indorsement  of  the  Old  Testament  comes 
the  acceptance  by  Christianity  of  the  Jewish  Divinity ; 
and  I  know  of  no  worse  feature  of  it  than  this.  Origi- 
nally the  idol  of  a  petty  tribe  of  sheep  and  cattle 
breeders  of  Judea,  Jehovah  became  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  their  descendants.  As  they 
extended  their  domain  by  force  of  arms,  so  extended 
the  kingdom  of  their  Divinity,  and  his  name  became 
a  terror  to  the  nations  round  about ;  while  the  Jews 
credited  him  with  all  that  their  superior  knowledge, 
craft,  and  cruelty  enabled  them  to  accomplish.  The 
common  sentiment  of  the  Jewish  nation  at  an  early 
period  is  well  exemplified  in  a  song  attributed  to  Moses, 
and  which  occurs  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Exodus: 
"Ho  is  my  God,  and  I  will  prepare  him  a  habitation; 
my  father's  God,  and  I  will  exalt  him.  The  Lord  is  a 
man  of  war :  the  Lord  is  his  name."  In  accordance 
with  this,  they  called  him  "  the  Lord  of  hosts,*'  or,  in 
other  words,  the  Lord  of  armies,  and  the  "  Lord  mighty 
in  battle."  A  similar  sentiment  was  shared  in  by  the 
nations  round  about  them,  who  had  each  divinities 


that   they  worshipped  and  prayed   to,  and  to  whom 
all  their  victories  were  ascribed. 

What  has  the  soul  of  the  universe  to  do  with  this 
petty,  jealous,  vacillating,  malignant,  cruel  idol  of  the 
Jews  ?  The  spirit  that  shines  in  the  sun  ;  that  throbs 
in  the  heart  of  the  distant  nebula  to  form  solar  sys- 
tems, as  it  does  in  that  of  the  unborn  child  to  form 
the  man ;  that,  out  of  the  fiery  hell  of  the  world  prime- 
val, has  developed  plant,  fish,  reptile,  brute,  and  man, 
and  is  urging  the  world  on  in  that  grand  career  of 
progress  whose  magnificent  future  may  be  estimated 
by  its  mighty  past,  —  what  relation  is  the  sacrifice- 
loving,  roasted-oxen-smelling  deity  of  the  Jews  to 
this  spirit?     No  more  than  Jupiter  or  Juno. 

Jehovah  is  a  being  who  cursed  the  earth  and  the 
entire  race  because  the  first  pair  fell,  when  he  knew 
beforehand  that  they  had  not  the  ability  to  stand; 
he  found  the  world  of  one  language  and  of  one  speech, 
and,  in  a  fit  of  jealousy  lest  they  should  build  a  tower 
to  heaven  and  invade  his  domain,  cursed  them  with  a 
thousand  different  tongues,  so  that  they  could  not  un- 
derstand each  other's  speech ;  he  tempted  Abraham  to 
murder  his  own  son,  and,  when  he  showed  his  readiness 
to  commit  the  infamous  crime,  he  blessed  him,  and 
represents  him  as  the  best  man  upon  earth,  because 
he  was  most  willing  to  do  the  worst  deed.  He  is  a 
God  that  transmuted  a  woman  into  a  pillar  of  salt, 
because  she  looked  back  upon  her  burning  home,  and 
lingeringly  left  her  friends  to  perish ;  who  hardened 
Pharoah's  heart  so  that  he  should  not  let  the  people 
of  Israel  go,  and  then  slew  millions  of  innocent 
Egyptians  because  he  was  so  hard-hearted  that  he 
would  not  let  them  go ;  he  gave  to  the  Jews  the  grand 


N.>'' 


266 


CHRISTUUITY  NO  FINALITY;    OR 


M 


charter  of  death,  —  no  Camauche  chiefs  war-speech 
was  ever  worse,  —  "  Thou  shalt  save  alive  nothing  that 
breatheth."     He  has  sent  all  mankind  into  the  world 
with  a  strong  disposition  to  do  evil;  he   allows  the 
Devil  and  his  agents  to  tempt  men,  and  thus  make 
them  worse  than  they  are  naturally,  and  then  has  so 
arranged  matters,  that,  if  they  persist  in  doing  what 
he  calls  evil,  he  will  plunge  them  into  a  den  of  woe, 
from  which  there  is  no  escape,  but  from  which  the 
smoke   of  their  torment  is  to  ascend  for  ever  and 
ever.     And  we  are  told  that  it  is  our  duty  to  love  this 
monster   that  the  Jew  made  and   the   Christian   has 
remodelled.     Tell  the  captive  pining  in  his  dungeon 
to  love  the  tyrant  that  placed  him  there  ;   tell  the 
slave  to  love  the  master  who  lias  robbed  him  of  his 
rights  since  he  began  to  breathe,  and  whose  back  is  yet 
bloody  from  the  blows  of  liis  lash  ;  tell  tlio  mother  to 
love  the  fiend  who  has  slain   her  darling,  and  now 
gloats  over  her  agony.     As  impossible  is  it  for  us  to 
love   this   Devil-creator,  this  plaguer  of  the   human 
race,  this   framer  and  jailer  of  hell,  and  tormentor 
of  the   damned.     Reason  will  not,  cannot,  call  him 
father ;  Love  shrinks  with  terror  from  hia  presence ; 
and  Justice  says,  "Let  him  die,  for  he  is  unworthy  to 
live."     The  gods  of  silver  and  gold,  of  iron  and  brass, 
will  perish ;  the  gods  of  wood  and  stone  shall  be  no 
more,  and  their  worshippers  shall  be  ashamed  of  their 
folly  :  and  so  shall  this  grim,  blood-besprinkled,  eter- 
nally hating  and  torturing  Jehovah  die,  and  a  mil- 
lion ransomed   souls  join  in  swelling  to  heaven  his 
funeral-hymn. 

The  transient  character  of  the  Christian  religion  is 
clearly  manifested  by  iU  intolerance.    Jesus  said,  *'  He 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO  CHRISTIANITY.        267 


that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved  :  he  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned ; "  and,  so  saying,  he 
opened  the  doors  of  persecution  as  wide  as  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  He  sowed  the  seed  that  fruited  in  creeds 
and  curses,  prisons,  chains,  blazing  fagots,  and  all  the 
horrors  of  the  Inquisition;  he  created  hell,  and  placed 
it  in  the  hands  of  priests  to  curse  the  world  for  ages. 
*'  If  men  are  to  be  damned  for  a  wrong  faith,"  says  the 
conscientious  Christian,  "  we  must  do  our  best  to  pro- 
vide them  with  a  right  faith,  and  to  prevent  the  spread 
of  what  may  damn  them;  and,  since  persecution  will 
do  this,  we  must  persecute.  Better  by  far  to  burn  one 
man  here,  than  that  a  thousand  should  burn  hereafter." 
Calvin,  who  burnt  Servetus,  acted  most  conscientious- 
ly, I  have  no  doubt ;  for  his  course  was  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  his  faith.  If  the  apostles  had  possessed  the 
power,  they  would,  doubtless,  have  exercised  it  in  a  sim- 
ilar manner.  Hear  Paul :  "  If  any  man  love  not  the 
Lord  Jesus  Cliriat^  let  him  be  anathema  maranatha.^^ 
Behind  that  lie  thumb-screw,  rack,  and  gibbet.  Again  : 
"  If  aiiy  man  preach  any  other  gospel  unto  you  than 
that  ye  have  received,  let  him  be  accursed."  In  other 
words, '-  Damn  every  man  that  preaches  not  our  gos- 
pel ; "  which  is  a  literal  translation  of  his  curse.  Even 
the  gentle  John,  the  preacher  of  love,  says,  "  If  there 
come  any  unto  you,  and  bring  not  this  doctrine,  receive 
him  not  into  your  house,  neither  bid  him.  God  speed." 
And  the  next  step  is  easily  taken,  and  legitimately  fol- 
lows :  *'  Take  him  into  your  prison,  and  thus  prevent  the 
dissemination  of  his  *  damnable  heresies,'  "  —  a  New- 
Testament  phrase-,  born  of  intolerance.  As  Christian- 
ity denounces  the  most  fearful  penalties  for  unbelief, 
60  has  it  been  the  most  persecuting  and  intolerant  of  all 


268 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  FINALITY;   OH, 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR    TO   CHRISTIANITY.        269 


41 


religions ;  and  those  among  Christians  who  are  farthest 
from  this,  as  the  Unitarians  and  Universalists,  are 
farthest  from  primitive,  genuine  Christianity. 

As  soon  as  Christianity  became  strong  enough  to 
wield  the  sword,  in  harmony  with  its  fuitli,  it  com- 
menced a  crusade  against  philosophy,  and  established 
a  reign  of  terror  overall  who  dared  to  thiak  otherwise 
than  as  the  church  directed.     Draper  says  of  the  Chris- 
tian  Church  in  the  reign  of  Constantino,  '•  They  de- 
nounced as  magic,  or  the  sinful  pursuit  of  rain  trifling, 
all  the  learning  that  stood  in  the  way.     It  was  intended 
to  cut  off  every  philosopher.     Every  manuscript  that 
could  be  seized  was  forthwith  burned.     Throughout 
the  East,  men,  in  terror,  destroyed  their  libraries,  for 
fear  that  some  unfortunate  sentence  contairied  in  any 
of  the  books  should  involve  them  and  their  families  in 
destruction.     The  universal  opinion  was,  that  it  was 
right  to  compel  men  to  believe  what  the  majority  of 
society  had  now  accepted  as  the  truth  ;  and,  if  they 
refused,  it  was  right  to  punish  them.      No  one  was 
heard  in  the  dominating  party  to  raise  his  voice  in  be- 
half of  intellectual  liberty."    Certainly  not :  this  would 
be  to  tolerate  another  gospel,  and  open  the  door  to  all 
heresy,  which  might  be  the  cause  of  eternal  misery  to 
millions.     The  belief  that  our  future  destiny  is  to  be 
decided  by  our  faith,  so  strenuously  insisted  upon  by 
Christianity,  has  made  Christians  the  most  relentless 
persecutors  the  world  has  known.    Tlic  pagan  Romans, 
who  never  supposed  that  a  false  faith  would  damn  men, 
were  tolerant  of  all  religions  that  did  not  interfere 
with  the  State.     Since  the  religion  that  denounces 
most  vehemently  and  threatens  the  most  terrible  tor- 
tures has  the  greatest  advantage  among  the  ignorant, 


who  can  fear  when  they  cannot  reason,  Christianity 
spread,  crowded  out  and  destroyed  paganism  and  phi- 
losophy, set  up  its  tortures,  and  for  centuries  applied 
them.  It  is  true  that  Christians  do  not  so  persecute 
to-day :  but  the  reason  is  evident ;  they  are  more  intel- 
ligent, and  have  less  power.  By  the  operation  of  irre- 
sistible law,  the  world  has  advanced,  and  superstition 
has  been  left  behind  in  the  march  ;  and  thus  Christian- 
ity and  its  intolerant  spirit  are  fast  being  superseded, 
and  they  shall  rule  the  world  no  more. 

Christianity  favors  sectarianism  and  priestcraft.  In 
Judaism,  the  priest  is  the  most  imposing  figure :  dressed 
in  his  sacerdotal  robes,  he  is  the  visible  manifestation 
of  the  deity,  and  commands  the  reverence  of  all  wor- 
shippers. Jesus  called  himself  Lord  and  Master,  and 
his  followers  have  not  been  slow  to  imitate  him ;  and, 
if  the  priest  is  not  the  great  I  AM,  he  is  the  little  I  am, 
and  heathen  all  who  reject  the  gospel  he  preaches. 
He  prays  in  the  name  of  the  congregation,  whom  he 
calls  "  my  people  : ''  "  We  thank  thee,  0  God,''  "  we 
.beseech  thee  ;  "  and  most  of  his  people  think  that  he  is 
much  nearer  to  God  than  themselves,  so  that,  when 
sick,  they  send  for  him  to  pray,  his  prayers  are  so  much 
more  potent  than  their  own.  A  man  in  the  Christian 
church  is  a  man  bound  to  be  no  wiser  than  its  creed, 
no  broader  than  its  intolerant  spirit,  no  better  than  its 
impractical  founder.  As  soon  as  he  attempts  to  beany 
of  these,  the  church's  anathema  is  fulminated  against 
him :  he  has  committed  the  sin  unpardonable. 

I  hail  spiritualism  as  a  deliverer  from  this  priest- 
craft, this  ecclesiastical  bondage,  an  opener  of  prison- 
doors  to  the  captives,  and  the  usherer  in  of  a  new  era 
for  humanity.     Hero  is  no  Moses  communing  with 


270 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  FINALITY ;    OR, 


mm 


God,  who  shows  him  his  glory,  but  tells  him  to  keep 
back  the  crowd,  for,  if  they  break  through,  they  shall 
perish ;  no  Jesus,  the  true  door,  denouncing  all  who 
enter  some  other  way  as  thieves  and  robbers ;  no  f)ope 
extending  his  pedal  digits  to  be  embraced  by  the  sots  of 
superstition  ;  not  even  a  priest  to  say  "  my  people :  " 
for  communion  with  the  spirit-world  is  open  to  all 
classes, —•children  of  seven  and  old  people  of  seventy. 
Peasants  who  never  read  a  line  are  as  highly  favored  as 
college-bred  professors ;  and  the  sinner,  in  this  respect, 
is  as  highly  favored  as  the  saint. 

We  have  sects  enough  :  why  multiply  them  ?  Too 
long  have  we  allowed  men  who  never  had  any  more 
authority  than  ourselves  to  drive  down  the  stakes  and 
enclose  us  within  a  creed-made  fold.  Luther  found 
the  pasture  bare,  or  nothing  left  but  bitten:  weeds ; 
the  streams  soiled  by  the  feet  of  millions  and  the  im- 
purities of  ages :  ho  looked  over  the  pale,  saw  the 
fertile  prairie  in  its  virgin  beauty,  the  best  of  pastur- 
age, living  streams  flowing  through  it,  and  said  to 
the  hungry,  thirsty,  dog-bitten  crowd,  "  Out  where 
the  living  waters  flow,  and  the  pastures  illimitable 
Invite  us  to  the  feast."  And  out  went  a  host,  but  only 
to  drive  down  new  stakes  and  enclose  another  flock. 
Wesley  broke  down  the  ecclesiastical  barrier,  and  took 
the  liberty  to  look  for  better  fare  ;  but  no  sooner  had 
he  found  it,  than  the  stake-drivers  were  set  to  work, 
the  field  enclosed,  and  the  sheep  solemnly  warned 
against  straying  outside  of  the  fold,  where  the  wolves 
lurk  to  devour  the  straying  lambs  of  the  flock.  Hav- 
ing taken  the  field  for  ourselves,  we  must  allow  all 
others  the  same  privilege.  Do  not  imagine,  that, 
because   we   have    outgrown    Christianity,   wo   have 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CHRISTIANITY.         271 


attained  the  highest  and  best  of  which  the  race  is  capa- 
ble ;  that  we  have  learned  it  all,  and  may  henceforth 
embody  our  views  in  a  creed,  build  our  churches,  and 
stand  at  the  door  and  bark  at  all  outsiders.  We  have 
done  little  more  than  master  the  alphabet  of  knowl- 
edge :  its  literature  is  all  but  unread. 

Organizations  we  must  have  for  work :  let  them  be 
a  thousand  times  multiplied.  We  must  unite,  or  do 
but  little  of  what  is  so  much  needed  :  but  let  it  be  a 
union  of  free  men,  not  for  the  extension  of  a  sect,  but 
for  the  enlightenment  and  upbuilding  of  mankind  ;  in 
that  finding  our  satisfaction  and  suflficient  reward,  and 
rejoicing  in  all  movements  that  aid  this,  by  whoever 
made.  Sectarians  look  at  every  thing  as  it  afiects  their 
sect:  if  it  will  help  that,  then  they  will  assist  it ;  if  it 
will  injure  their  sect,  however  much  it  may  benefit 
the  race,  "  Curse  it ! ''  they  cry  :  "  for  it  blesses  not 
us!"  Thus  the  strongest  sectarians  have  been  tha 
most  deadly  foes  of  progress. 

We  must  stand  where  we  can  rejoice  at  all  progress : 
whatever  blesses  mankind  cannot  but  be  worthy  of  our 
regard.  We  shall  herald  instead  of  denouncing  re- 
form.  We  shall  aid  temperance,  labor-reform,  social 
science,  human  suffrage,  and  all  other  progressive 
movements :  they  are  agencies  operated  by  the  mem- 
bers of  our  grand  church  of  humanity.  We  shall 
unite  with  those  who  do  not  recognize  existence  after 
death  :  they  are  our  brethren  also,  —  many  of  them 
most  noble  and  true,  wlio  have  stood  by  the  truth 
amid  obloquy,  reproach,  scorn,  and  bitter  persecution. 
I  can  belong  to  no  church  that  excludes  them  or  any 
others  who  are  honestly  laboring  to  benefit  the  race. 
Spiritualists  need  carefully  to  guard  against  making 


\ 


ftl 


■I 


272 


CHRISTIANITY  NO  FINALITY;    OR, 


spirits  authority.  The  world  abounds  with  lazy 
people,  who  do  not  wish  the  trouble  of  makiag  up  their 
minds,  and  are  glad  to  have  spirits  do  this  for  them. 
What  the  spirit  says  is  swallowed  as  unadulterated 
gospel ;  and  one  idol,  tlie  Bible,  cast  down,  only  that 
another  many-headed  monster  may  take  its  place. 
Nothing  can  relieve  us  from  the  necessity  of  thinking. 
We  must  allow  nothing  to  take  us  off  tlio  solid  ground 
of  reason,  or  growth  is  impossible. 

Nothing  can  absolve  us  from  the  obligations  of 
morality,  the  duties  which  we  naturally  owe  to  our- 
selves and  others.  We  must  prove  that  we  have  a 
better  religion  by  living  better'lives.  When  ecclesias- 
tical bonds  are  being  snapped,  people  are  sometimes 
ready  to  discard  even  the  authority  of  Nature  herself, 
and  disregard  the  laws  upon  obedience  to  which  our 
own  and  others'  well-being  depend.  Spirits  cannot 
prevent  tlie  consequences  of  wrong-doing  from  falling 
upon  the  head  of  the  guilty  ;  and  a  spiritualist  sinner 
will  be  made  to  suffer  as  certainly  as  an  Orthodox 
good-doer  will  be  rewarded.  With  increasing  intelli- 
gence, we  shall  learn  that  the  wisest  man  is  he  who 
knows  the  most  of  what  Nature  teaches ;  and  the  best 
man,  he  who  most  faithfully  reduces  her  lessons  to 
practice. 

Our  vessel  is  afloat ;  the  sails  are  set ;  heaven  wafts 
a  prosperous  gale.  Science  is  our  compass.  Reason 
our  pilot,  and  angels  point  the  way.  Already  the 
goodly  land  appeals  in  view.  See  its  sunny  slopes ! 
We  can  even  hear  its  music  in  faint  tones,  as  it  comes 
wafted  over  the  breakers.  There  stand  the  friends 
that  ill  youth  we  loved,  on  whose  cold  graves  wo 
dropped  a  tear.     They  beckon  to  us  !     No  dark  cloud 


SPIRITUALISM  SUPERIOR   TO   CHRISTIANITY, 


273 


obscures  our  vision  ;  no  mist  like  a  curtain  hides  from 
us  the  home  of  the  soul.  We  do  not  say, ''  I  hope  to 
join  you,  if  God  will  but  help  me  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  ;  "  but  we  boldly  say,  "  Ye,  my  brethren,  Uve 
and  love,  and  we  shall  live  and  love  also  !  '* 


18 


1 


M 


I^H 


GOD  PROPOSED. 


\i 


e 


li 


alt 


THE  GOD  PROPOSED  FOR  OUR  NATIONAL 

CONSTITUTION. 


■/ 


It  is  said,  that,  "  once  upon  a  time,"  the  frogs  were 
desirous  of  having  a  king.     On  looking  around  for  a 
suitable  individual,  they  spied  a  fat  ox  feeding  in  the 
meadow.  Admiring  his  majestic  appearance,  they  sent  a 
deputation  to  wait  upon  him,  and  ask  him  to  accept  the 
position.     The  ox,  nothing  loath,  strode  down  to  the 
marsh,  and  was  properly  installed  king  of  frogdom. 
His  happy  subjects  crowded  around  him  to  present 
their  congratulations  ;  but,  unfortunately  for  them,  as 
he  moved  his  ponderous  body  to  return  the  compli- 
ments that  were  croaked  from  every  side,  beneath  his 
royal  hoofs  lay  a  dozen  of  his  loyal  subjects  crushed 
to  the  earth.    Too  late  they  discovered  that  an  ox, 
though  a  fine-looking  animal,  is  no  fit  monarch  for 

frogs. 

Before  we  think  of  placing  a  God  in  the  Constitution 
of  these  United  States,  it  must  be  well  to  examine  the 
character  of  the  individual  proposed  for  the  position, 
or  we  may  find  ourselves  in  the  condition  of  the  frogs 
in  the  fable ;  death  following  every  step  of  oijr  God, 
and  we  powerless  to  stop  the  destruction. 

277 


\! 


278 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


Up  to  the  present  time,  I  have  heard  of  but  one  God 
who  has  been  proposed  for  the  highest  of  all  offices  in 
the  gift  of  the  people ;  and  that  is  the  Christian's  God, 
whom  Jesus  declared  to  be  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob.  The  God,  then,  that  we  are  asked  to  make 
the  God  of  these  United  States,  is  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
the  Jews,  whose  sayings  and  deeds  are  recorded  in 
their  so-called  sacred  books  and  in  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures, from  which  we  can,  fortunately,  obtain  a  knowl- 
edge of  his  actual  character.  It  is  furnished,  if  we  are  to 
believe  what  these  books  say,  by  himself  and  his  friends, 
it  is  true  ;  and  this  must  be  taken  into  account,  as  we 
may  suppose  them  to  represent  him  in  a  more  favorable 
light  than  the  facts  will  really  warrant. 

Moses  gives  us  a  portrait  of  him  that  is  ygtj  beauti- 
ful :  "  He  is  the  Rock  ;  his  work  is  perfect ;  for  all  his 
ways  are  judgment  ;  a  Qod  of  truth  and  without 
iniquity,  just  and  right  is  he  "  (Deut.  xxxii.  4).  What 
an  excellent  example  to  place  before  the  officers  of  our 
government!  Of  himself  he  says,  "  The  Lord  God  is 
merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in 
goodness  and  truth  "  (Exod.  xxxiv.  6).  Who  could  ob- 
ject to  such  a  God  as  this  ?  He  needs  but  to  be  known 
to  be  loved,  but  to  be  heard  to  be  obeyed.  It  may  be 
well,  however,  to  see  whether  his  deeds  correspond  with 
his  words.  Men  accepted  for  what  they  claim  to  be,  and 
State-prison  convicts  are  patterns  of  all  excellency. 
It  may  possibly  be  so  with  gods.     Let  us  see. 

Jehovah  informs  Adam  (Gen.  ii.  17),  that,  if  he 
shall  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  in  the 
day  that  he  eats  of  it  he  shall  surely  die.  But,  instead 
of  dying  in  that  day,  Adam  lived  more  than  nine  hun- 
dred years  afterward.    Could  Jehovah  have  made  a 


FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 


279 


mistake  ?  That  is,  of  course,  impossible.  Did  he  really 
intend  to  deceive  the  man  ?  Was  not  some  other  kind 
of  death  meant  ?  If  truthful  in  every  other  respect, 
we  will  give  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt ;  but,  if  other- 
wise, we  shall  suspect  him,  to  say  the  least. 

According  to  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  1st  Samuel, 
Jehovah  told  Samuel  to  go  to  Jesse  the  Bethlehemite, 
and  anoint  one  of  his  sons,  whom  he  had  provided  for 
king  over  Israel,  in  the  place  of  Saul.     But  Samuel 
replies,  "  How  can  I  go  ?    If  Saul  hear  it,  he  will  kill 
me."     Saul  was  king,  and  he  would  kill  the  man  who 
thus  sought  to  put  another  man  in  his  place.     Now, 
mark  the  advice  of  Jehovah :  '<  And  the  Lord  said.  Take 
a  heifer  with  thee,  and  say,  I  am  come  to  sacrifice  to 
the  Lord."     Was  it  for  that  Jehovah  wished  him  to  go  ? 
No  such  thing;  but  to  anoint  David  king.     What  was 
he  to  take  the  heifer  for  ?     To  deceive  Saul,  and  thus 
escape  the  consequences  of  his  deed  by  lying.    You 
may  call  that  a  white  lie.     The  crime  of  lying  consists 
in  the  deception  practised  ;  and  in  this  respect  it  was  as 
black  as  any  lie.     The  difference  between  that  and  an 
ordinary  lie  is,  that  it  was  a  mean,  cowardly  lie.     Tho 
man  who  tells  an  out-and-out  lie  stands  on  his  feet 
when  he  tells  it ;  but  the  man  who  tells  a  lie  like  that 
crawls  on  the  ground  like  a  snake.     I  have  no  respect 
for  cowards,  bo  they  men  or  gods.     How  much  better 
it  would  have  been  for  Jehovah  to  say  to  Samuel, 
"  Tell  the  truth,  and  I  will  attend  to  the  consequences  "  I 
or,  better  still,  "  If  you  are  afraid  to  do  what  I  tell  you, 
let  it  alone,  and  I  will  find  a  more  courageous  man  " ! 
If  we  are  to  have  a  constitutional  God  of  the  United 
States,  I  think  it  will  be  generally  acknowledged  that 
he  should  be  a  truthful  God.    I  know  that  politicians, 


\l 


280 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION, 


281 


'^^' 


il  j 


as  a  class,  care  but  little  about  truth,  unless  it  can  be 
made  to  subserve  their  purposes.  I  know  that  par- 
tisan newspapers,  especially  just  before  election,  care 
as  little  about  truth  as  a  hungry  hyena  does  about 
grace  before  meat.  I  know,  also,  that  many  priests 
and  orthodox  tract-society  managers  are  not  very 
scrupulous  about  lying,  when  they  think  it  will  help 
"the  Lord's  cause.''  This  I  know:  but  the  body  of  the 
people  love  truth ;  feed  on  lies  only  because  the  truth 
is  withheld  from  them ;  and,  if  they  are  to  have  a  na- 
tional God,  want,  as  they  must  surely  need,  a  God  of 
truth ;  one  who  will  neither  lie  himself,  nor  induce 
others  to  lie.  I  object  to  Jehovah,  then,  as  our  God, 
because  he  is  a  liar. 

After  the  separation  of  Abram  and  Lot,  Jehovah  told 
Abram  to  walk  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land  of  Canaan,  and  said,  "  All  tiie  land  which  thou 
seest,  to  thee  I  will  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed  forever " 
(Gen.  xiii.  15).  He  made  this  promise  still  more  defi- 
nite subsequently  by  saying,  "  Unto  thy  seed  have  I 
given  this  land,  from  the  river  of  Egypt  unto  the  great 
river,  the  River  Euphrates  "  (Gen.  xv.  18).  The 
promise  made  and  sworn  to  by  Jehovah  to  Abraham 
was  repeated  to  Isaac  and  Jacob.  How  was  it  ful- 
filled ?  Abraham  himself  never  received  a  foot  of  it 
(Acts  vii.  5).  Nearly  five  hundred  years  passed  away 
before  his  seed  commenced  the  conquest  of  the  prom- 
ised country ;  and  so  slowly  did  it  proceed,  that  it  was 
not  till  nearly  four  hundred  years  after  this  that  even 
Zion,  the  stronghold  of  Jerusalem,  was  taken  from  the 
Jebusites  (2  Sam.  v.  7) ;  and  less  than  four  hundred 
years  after  this  the  kingdom  of  Judah  was  overthrown  by 
Nebuchadnezzar  (Jer.  lii.).     To-day  the  nine  thousand 


Jews  that  dwell  in  Palestine  arc  foreigners  ;  and  they 
may  sec  what  the  promises  of  Jehovah  are  worth,  and 
how  little  dependence  is  to  be  placed  upon  his  word. 
Even  in  the  latter  part  of  David's  reign,  and  that  of 
Solomon's,  when  the  country  of  the  Israelites  was 
most  extended,  the  northern  part  of  the  promised 
territory  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Phoenicians  and  the 
Syrians,  while  the  southern  part  was  held  by  the 
Philistines  and  the  Eygptians. 

*'From  Dan  to  Beersheba,"  which  designated  the 
length  of  Canaan,  even  near  the  close  of  David's  reign 
(2  Chr.  xxi.  2) ,  is  only  about  a  hundred  and  forty  miles  ; 
while  the  distance  from  the  river  of  Egypt  to  the  Eu- 
phrates, the  land  promised  to  the  seed  of  Abraham,  is 
between  five  and  six  hundred  miles.  The  little  that  the 
Israelites  did  possess  was  only  for  a  few  years  at  a  time, 
fitful  occupancy  of  a  small  territory,  obtained  by  theft 
and  murder,  only  held  by  continual  fighting,  and 
which  they  have  lost  possession  of  for  more  than  two 
thousand  years.  This  Jehovah,  who  thus  swore  to 
the  fathers  and  lied  to  the  children,  is  the  very  last  of 
all  gods  to  be  chosen  by  a  people  who  love  truth,  and 
desire  it  to  become  universal. 

The  same  Jehovah  lied  to  David  and  his  descend- 
ants, lied  plainly  and  unequivocally.  In  the  89tli  Psalm 
we  read,  "  I  have  made  a  covenant  with  my  chosen, 
I  have  sworn  unto  David  my  servant.  Thy  seed  will  I 
establish  forever,  and  build  up  thy  throne  to  all  gen- 
erations." And  again,  "  His  seed  also  will  I  make  to 
endure  forever,  and  his  throne  as  the  days  of  heaven." 
But  the  most  definite  promise  is  this :  "  If  his 
children  forsake  my  law,  and  walk  not  in  my  judg- 
ments; if  they  break  my  statutes,  and  keep  not  my 


\l 


282 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


commandments ;  then  will  I  visit  their  transgressions 
with  the  rod,  and  their  iniquity  with  stripes.  Never- 
theless, my  loving-kindness  will  I  not  utterly  take  from 
him,  nor  suffer  my  faithfulness  to  fail.  My  covenant 
will  I  not  break,  nor  alter  the  thing  that  is  gone  out  of 
my  lips.  Once  have  I  sworn  by  my  holiness  that  I  will 
not  lie  unto  David.  His  seed  shall  endure  forever, 
and  his  throne  as  the  sun  before  me.  It  shall  be  estab- 
lished forever  as  the  moon,  and  as  a  faithful  witness 
in  heaven." 

If  the  sun  had  endured  no  longer  than  David's 
throne,  we  had  never  been  ;  and,  if  the  moon  had  been 
no  better  established,  we  had  never  seen  it. 

Long  after  this,  when  there  seemed  to  be  danger  of 
the  utter  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  the 
promise  is  repeated  to  Jeremiah  (Jer.xxxiii.17):  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord :  David  shall  never  want  a  man  to  sit 
upon  the  throne  of  the  house  of  Israel ;  neither  shall 
the  priests  the  Levites  want  a  man  before  me  to  offer 
burntofiferings  and  to  kindle  meat-offerings,  and  to  do 
sacrifice  continually."  Again  he  says,  "  If  ye  can 
break  my  covenant  of  the  day,  and  my  covenant  of  the 
night,  and  that  there  should  not  be  day  and  night  in 
their  season  ;  then  may  also  my  covenant  be  broken 
with  David  my  servant,  that  he  should  not  have  a  son 
to  reign  upon  his  throne  ;  and  with  the  Levites  the 
priests,  my  ministers." 

Let  us  see  how  these  unconditional  promises,  from 
the  God  that  would  not  lie  to  David,  were  fulfilled. 
David  reigned  about  forty  years,  then  Solomon  forty  ; 
but  his  son  Relioboam  lost  the  government  of  ten 
tribes,  which  were  ruled  over  by  Jeroboam,  a  man  in 
no  way  related  to  David.     And  the  kingdom  of  Judah, 


FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   OONSTTTUTION. 


283 


as  the  government  of  the  remaining  tribes,  Judah  and 
Benjamin,  was  then  called,  lasted  under  the  dynasty  of 
David  about  four  hundred  years,  till  Nebuchadnezzar 
destroyed  Jerusalem,  carried  the  people  into  captivity, 
and  destroyed  "  the  throne  of  David." 

What  kind  of  a  forever  is  five  hundred  years? 
When  Jehovah  told  Jeremiah  that  David  should 
never  want  a  man  to  sit  upon  his  throne,  he  must 
have  known,  that  within  ten  years,  at  the  outside, 
there  would  be  no  throne  of  David  to  sit  on.  It  is  said 
that  he  who  will  swear  will  lie ;  and  it  appears  to  be 
as  true  of  gods  as  men.  Where  is  the  throne  of  David 
to-day,  that  was  to  be  as  the  sun  before  Jehovah? 
Where  are  the  Levites  offering  burnt-offerings?  and 
where  are  they  doing  sacrifice  continually  ? 

The  condition  of  the  Jew  among  us,  which  has  been 
appealed  to  as  a  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  is 
one  of  the  strongest  evidences  of  the  untruth  of  Jeho- 
vah. Destitute  of  a  nation,  destitute  of  the  ceremoni- 
als of  his  ancient  faith,  he  shows  us  the  sad  conse- 
quences of  the  trust  of  his  race  in  the  promise-making, 
but  no  less  promise-breaking,  Jehovah,  who  has  ruined 
one  nation,  and  whom  traitors  to  freedom  are  inviting 
to  ruin  this  country  also,  —  the  only  refuge  for  the  God- 
cursed  of  all  lands. 

Some  children  lie  in  their  infancy,  but,  when  their 
reasoning  faculties  become  active,  see  the  impropriety 
of  it,  and  thenceforth  speak  the  truth ;  but  Jehovah 
does  not  seem  to  improve  in  this  respect  with  age. 
I  find  Paul  stating  (2  Thess.  ii.  11),  that,  because 
certain  people  would  not  receive  the  love  of  the  truth, 
God  should  send  them  strong  delusion,  that  they 
should  believe  a  lie,  that  they  all  might  be  dananed. 


\l 


284 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


FOR   OUR    NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 


285 


'W\ 


I 


The  God  that  Paul  believed  in  was  Jehovah  ;  and,  be- 
cause people  do  not  love  the  truth,  he  will  lie  to  them, 
that  they  may  believe  the  lie,  and  be  damned  !  How 
much  love  of  truth  has  that  Being  who  adopts  such 
lying  measures?  how  much  justice  has  lie  who  lies 
to  people,  and  then  damns  them  because  they  believe 
him?  and  how  much  propriety  is  there  in  putting 
this  lying  Jehovah  into  our  national  Constitution  ? 

Bad  as  was  the  treatment  that  the  Jews  received  at 
the  hands  of  Jehovah,  it  was  the  best  ever  vouchsafed 
by  him  to  any  people :  for  he  is  a  partial  God;  and  I 
bring  this  as  another  objection  against  him.  He 
chooses  Abram,  out  of  all  the  Arab  chiefs  of  his  time,  to 
be  the  father  of  his  peculiar  people;  lie  loves  Jacob 
rather  tlian  Esau,  and  that  before  either  of  them  is 
born,  "  that  the  purpose  of  God,  according  to  election, 
might  stand,"  as  Paul  tells  us.  He  chose  the  Israel- 
ites from  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  delivered  them 
from  Egypt  by  a  series  of  most  astounding  miracles, 
blew  a  passage  for  them  through  the  Red  Sea,  fed 
them  with  bread  from  heaven,  and  sent  quails  by  the 
million,  caused  water  to  spring  from  the  solid  rock, 
and  for  forty  years  never  allowed  the  clothes  on  their 
backs  nor  the  shoes  on  their  feet  to  grow  old  or  worn. 
He  says,  "  The  Lord  thy  God  hath  chosen  thee  to  be  a 
special  people  unto  himself,  above  all  people  that  are 
on  the  face  of  the  earth ''  (Deut.  vii.  6).  And  again: 
"  You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the 
earth"  (Amosiii.  2).  The  peaceful  and  industrious 
Chinese,  the  philosophic  Hindoos,  the  intelligent  and 
religious  Egyptians,  the  brave  Assyrians,  and  the  artis- 
tic Greeks,  Jehovah  never  knew ;  for  them  he  never 
cared.    In  the  darkness,  a  thousand  million  of  God's 


neglected  sons  groped  through  the  centuries ;  but 
this  handful  of  Israelites,  his  beloved  children,  lived  in 
a  blaze  of  divine  glory,  and  were  permitted,  nay,  com- 
manded, to  butcher  their  brothers  who  would  not  be- 
come their  slaves,  and  bow  down  and  worship  their 
little-souled  and  partial,  God  ;  and  those  who  are  mov- 
ing for  the  Jehovah  amendment  in  the  Constitution 
not  only  worship  this  unjust  Divinity,  but  seem  to  be 
desirous  to  compel  their  more  enlightened  and  more 
manly  neighbors  to  worship  him  also. 

This  country  justly  prides  itself  upon  its  general 
intelligence.  The  few  do  not  shoot  up  like  pines,  and 
the  many  fquat  like  toad-stools.  The  average  culture 
of  the  people  of  the  Northern  States,  at  least,  is  proba- 
bly as  great  as  or  greater  than  that  of  any  other  country 
on  the  globe.  If  we  are  to  have  a  God  for  our  nation, 
he  should  be  an  intelligent  God,  or  how  can  intelligent 
people  respect  him?  I  object,  then,  to  Jehovah,  because 
lie  is  an  ignorant  God,  —  so  ignorant  of  geography,  that 
he  does  not  know  either  the  shape  of  the  earth  or  its 
size,  and  supposed  that  a  forty-day^'  rain  would  drown 
it  (Gen.  vii.  4).  He  knows  so  little  of  astronomy,  that 
he  supposes  the  earth  to  be  the  universe,  to  which  the 
heavens  hold  the  same  relation  as  a  curtain  does  to  a 
bed  (Isa.  xl.  22).  He  thinks  the  stars  are  "  set"  in 
this  stretched  curtain  ;  and  when  he  shall  roll  it  up,  as 
he  threatens  to  do  at  some  time,  he  supposes  the  stars 
will  fall  to  the  earth  (Isa.  xxxiv.4 ;  Rev.  vi.  13).  He  has 
so  little  knowledge  of  the  number  of  species  of  animals 
on  the  globe,  that  he  supposed  Noah  could  preserve,  in 
a  box  about  five  hundred  feet  long,  less  than  one  hun- 
dred broad,  and  about  fifty  high,  seven  of  every  kind  of 
bird,  male  and  female,  and  two  of  every  other  kind  of 


\! 


286 


THE  GOD  PROPOSED 


FOR   OUR  NATIONAL  CONSTITUTION. 


287 


m 


% 


animal,  and  provisions  for  them  for  twelve  mouths; 
one-fourth  of  which  could  never  have  got  into  it. 
He  is  so  ignorant  of  zoology,  that  ho  tells  the  Israel- 
ites they  must  not  eat  the  hare,  hecause  it  chews  the 
cud  (Lev.  xi.  6),  —  a  thing  that  no  hare  does;  thus 
mistaking  a  rodent  for  a  ruminant.  He  knows  so 
little  of  geology,  that  he  supposes  the  earth  was  made 
less  than  six  thousand  years  ago,  and  brought  into  a 
condition  similar  to  the  present  in  less  than  a  week  ; 
and  is  so  ignorant  of  the  history  of  man,  whom  he  pre- 
tends to  have  made,  that  he  supposes  all  human  beings 
descended  from  a  single  pair,  who  were  made  long 
after  the  valley  of  the  Nile  was  occupied  by  civilized 
people  ;  and  then,  to  crown  his  imbecility,  threatens 
man  with  damnation  unless  he  believes  that  of  which 
he  fails  to  give  him  sufficient  evidence.  There  is  not 
a  boy  of  fourteen  years  of  age  in  any  New-England 
grammar-school  who  does  not  know  more  than  this 
Jewish  Jehovah  is  represented  in  the  Bible  as  know- 
ing; and  a  man  so  ignorant  would  be  a  laughing-stock 
to  his  whole  neighborhood.  The  Hottentots  of  Africa 
might  debate  whether  a  God  as  ignorant  should  be 
admitted  into  the  constitution  of  their  government ; 
but  the  men  who  propose  him  for  the  United-States 
Constitution  are  the  deadliest  enemies  of  intelligence. 
As  a  nation,  the  United  States  has  been  a  grand 
success.  The  fathers  of  our  country  undertook  to 
form  a  republic  uncursed  by  kings  and  government 
priests  ;  where  all  men  could  have  liberty  of  conscience, 
for  all  religious  faiths  should  be  equal  in  the  eye  of  the 
law.  They  sought  to  make  a  home  for  the  oppressed, 
the  king-cursed,  the  poverty-stricken,  of  all  lands  ;  and 
they  did  it.     We  undertook  to  rid  the  land  of  slavery, 


that  it  might  be  in  spirit,  as  in  name,  the  land  of  the  free ; 
and  we  have  done  it.     Much  remains  to  be  done  to 
make  this  country  what  the  wisest  and  best  desire :  and, 
if  wo  are  to  have  a  God  for  the  country,  it  should  be  one 
who  has  been  successful ;  one  in  whom  we  can  have 
confidence  that  he  will  help  us  to  succeed  in  carrying 
out  still  needed  reforms.     I  object,  then,  to  Jehovah, 
because  he  has  utterly  failed  in  nearly  every  thing  that 
he  has  undertaken.     Hell  only  exists  in  consequence  of 
the  failure  of  heaven.    The  very  first  human  beings  that 
Jehovah  made  failed  so  utterly,  that  he  cursed  them 
almost  as  soon  as  they  were  out  of  his  hands.     The 
world  that  he  had  made,  and  pronounced  good,  was 
such  a  dead  failure,  that  it  grieved  him  at  his  heart,  and 
he  destroyed  it,  and  tried  it  over  again  with  scarcely 
any  better  success.     He  chose  the  Israelites,  that  they 
might  be  a  holy  people  unto  him  ;  yet  they  turned  out  to 
be  the  vilest  of  wretches,  and  made  him  so  angry,  that 
he  cursed  them  in  his  wrath,  and  destroyed  them  in  his 
fury.    Mankind  failed  so  utterly,  that  he  left  heaven  to 
save  them  ;  and  for  this  purpose  became  a  Jewish  baby, 
and  subsequently  a  carpenter  and  a  preacher  ;  allowed 
men  to  kill  him,  and  then  sent  his  disciples  unto  all  the 
world  to  tell  people  that  they  might  be  saved  by  believ- 
ing the  story.     Yet  so  bunglingly  did  he  manage  the 
whole  matter,  that  not  one  in  fifty  of  the  world's  pop- 
ulation since  that  time  has  ever  believed  the  account ; 
and  the  more  intelligent  people  become,  the  less  in- 
clined they  are  to  believe  it,  and  the  more  certain  they 
are  to  be  damned,  — the  very  fate  from  which  Jehovah 
professes  to  have  undertaken  to  deliver  them,  —  and 
the  myriads  of  helFs  victims  are  to  howl  his  failure  to 
all  eternity. 


288 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


FOB.   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 


289 


II 


I 


'*!n^n 


^lt(f 


m 


Shall  we  sufifer  a  God  who  so  mismanages  his  own 
affairs  to  manage  ours  ?  Obey  such  a  God  as  this,  and 
we  should  soon  be  in  the  condition  of  his  chosen  people 
when  they  wished  to  return  to  the  Egypt  they  had  fled 
from,  or  as  they  were  when  he  sold  them  into  the  hands 
of  Nebuchadnezzar. 

One  reason  of  Jehovah's  want  of  success  may  be  that 
he  is  vacillating^  —  lacking  that  strong  will,  governed 
by  intelligence,  which  moves  toward  its  object  without 
flinching,  because  wisdom  has  determined  the  course 
marked  out  to  be  the  best. 

"  It  repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man  on  the 
earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at  his  heart"  (Gen.  vi.  6). 
It  is  therefore  presumable,  that,  if  he  had  known  how 
lie  would  turn  out,  he  never  would  have  made  him. 
After  leading  the  Israelites  into  the  wilderness,  they  so 
provoked  him,  that  he  declared  he  would  smite  them 
with  the  pestilence,  and  disinherit  them ;  and  would 
have  done  it,  apparently,  had  not  Moses  expostulated 
with  him,  and  led  this  vacillating  Divinity  to  "  repent 
of  the  evil  that  he  thought  to  do  unto  his  people  " 
(Exod.  xxxii.  14).  Moses  saw,  that,  if  he  did  this,  his 
reputation  among  other  nations  would  be  destroyed ; 
and,  on  presenting  this  view  of  the  matter  to  Jehovah, 
he  appears  to  have  seen  the  wisdom  of  the  suggestion. 
A  prime-minister  often  knows  more  thau  a  king  ;  and 
a  prophet,  we  see,  may  be  more  intelligent  than  the 
God  that  sends  him. 

Jehovah  sent  word  to  ETezekiah,  "  Set  thine  house  in 
order ;  for  thou  shalt  die,  and  not  live  "  (Isa.  xxxviii.). 
But  Hezekiah,  as  many  ^others  would  have  done,  felt 
as  if  he  would  rather  live  than  die:  he  said,  *'  Remem- 
ber now,  0  Lord  !  I  beseech  thee,  how  I  have  walked 


before  thee  in  truth  and  with  a  perfect  heart,  and 
have  done  that  which  is  good  in  thy  sight.  And 
Hezekiah  wept  sore."  This  appears  to  have  led 
to  a  reconsideration  of  the  matter  on  the  part  of  Jeho- 
vah, and  he  sent  word  to  him  that  he  had  lengthened 
his  days  fifteen  years. 

We  read  that  the  Ninevites  at  one  time  offended 
Jehovah  greatly,  and  he  sent  Jonah  to  announce  to  them 
their  unconditional  destruction.  Jonah  was  unwill- 
ing to  go  ;  and  it  required  a  three-days'  residence  in 
a  whale  to  make  him  obedient  to  the  heavenly  voice. 
When  "  he  reached  Nineveh,  he  went  through  the 
streets  crying,  Yet  forty  days,  and  Nineveh  shall  be 
overthrown."  But,  at  the  preaching  of  this  foreign 
prophet,  the  whole  city  repented,  and  fasted,  and 
"  cried  mightily  unto  God  ;  "  and  then  God  repented, 
and  concluded  to  spare  the  repentant  city,  regardless  of 
the  feelings  of  Jonah,  who  thought  he  was  badly  used. 
If  Jehovah  knew  the  end  from  the  beginning,  he  must 
have  known  that  the  Ninevites  would  repent,  and  the 
city  be  spared ;  and  I  think  Jonah  had  jjist  ground 
of  complaint  in  being  sent  there  with  that  lie  in  his 
mouth. 

What  confidence  can  we  have  in  a  God  who  is 
grieved  at  his  heart  at  the  foreseen  consequences  of  his 
own  actions,  and  undoes  in  a  day  what  it  took  him 
more  than  a  thousand  years  to  accomplish,  and  then, 
after  it  is  over,  promises  that  he  will  not  do  it  again  ? 
(Gen.  viii.  21.) 

I  object  to  Jehovah's  name  in  our  national  Con- 
stitution also,  because  he  is  a  male  God,  and  neither 
has,  nor  ever  had,  any  female  associated  with  him  in 
the  divine  government.     I^e  is  a  stern  father,  chas- 

19 


\l 


290 


THE  GOD   PROPOSED 


FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 


291 


;!;(!'  I. 


-'«! 


tising  in  anger  every  unrepentant  son.  But  where  is 
the  tender-hearted  mother,  that  with  a  kiss  receives 
the  erring  child  to  her  bosom,  and  melts  him  into  re- 
pentance with  her  tears  ?  God  the  Father,  God  the 
Son,  God  the  Holy  Ghost ;  three  unmarried  males,  con- 
stituting a  monkish  trinity,  from  all  eternity  to  all 
eternity.  I  o'  ject  to  him  (them)  as  utterly  unfit  to 
reign  ovcf  us,  and  especially  when  women  sliall  have 
their  political  rights  ;  and  the  day  cannot  be  far  distant. 
This  is  the  God  who  thunders  in  the  ears  of  the  first 
woman,  "  Thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he 
shall  rule  over  thee  ; "  who  made  man  first,  and  woman 
only  because  man  needed  somebody  to  help  him  ;  who 
set  a  trap  for  humanity,  and  baited  it  so  that  human 
nature  could  not  resist  the  temptation,  and  then  cursed 
all  women  because  tlie  first  one  went  into  it.  A 
heavenly  mother  would  never  have  cursed  all  Iier 
daughters  with  pain  on  account  of  the  trivial  fault  of 
the  first ;  nor  would  she  ever  have  made  the  penalty 
for  their  misdoing  unutterable  woe  forever.  If  we 
are  to  have  a  God  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  it  must  be  a  God  in  whom  the  sexes  are  equally 
represented,  or  our  Government  will  be  as  one-sided 
as  the  Bible.     It  is  altogether  too  much  so  now. 

The  fate  of  the  Jews^  who  trusted  in  this  Jehovah^  should 
forever  prevent  us  from  following  their  example. 

The  Lord,  we  arc  told,  delivered  Israel  out  of  the 
hand  of  the  Egyptians,  broke  the  yoke  of  their  bond- 
age, and  became  their  guide  to  the  land  of  promise. 
So  near  was  it,  that  a  man  could  have  walked  there  in 
a  couple  of  weeks  ;  but,  uitder  the  guidance  of  Jeho- 
vah, it  took  them  forty  years,  and  only  two  men  arrived 
there  who  started  from  flgypt.      So  disgusted  were 


the  Israelites  with  the  conduct  of  their  God,  that  they 
desired  to  return  to  Egypt,  preferring  the  slavery  of 
Pharaoh  to  that  of  Jehovah.     Nay,  they  even  made  a 
golden  calf,  and  worshipped  it  in  preference,  and  said, 
"  These  be  thy  gods,  0  Israel !  that  brought  thee  up 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.''     And  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  calf  had  as  much  to  do  with  it  as  Jehovah.     But 
Jehovah  was  so  angry,  that  he  caused  the  Levites,  who 
were  just  as  guilty  as  the  rest,  to  murder  three  thou- 
sand of  the  people  in  consequence  (Exod.  xxxii.  28). 
When   their  descendants  arrived  at  the  promised 
land,  they  were  compelled  to  fight  for  many  years  in 
order  to  obtain  possession  of  what  Jehovah  promised 
to  give  them.     Whenever  they  failed  in  battle,  it  was 
because  Jehovah  was  angry  with  them,  of  course ;  and, 
whenever  they  succeeded,  it  was  because  he  helped 
them.     But  his  help  seems  to  have  done  them  but  lit- 
tle good.     This  is  the  way  that  he  served  them,  as  he 
himself  has  recorded  for  our  instruction  :  "  The  anger 
of  the  Lord  was  hot  against  Israel,  and  he  delivered 
them  into  the  hands  of  spoilers,  and  he  sold  them  into 
the  hands  of  their  enemies  round  about,  so  that  they 
could   not  any  longer   stand   before    their  enemies. 
Whithersoever  they  went  out,  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
was  against  them  for  evil ;  and  they  were  sadly  dis- 
tressed" (Judges  ii.  14,  15). 

"  The  Lord  strengthened  Eglon,king  of  Moab,  against 
Israel."  "  So  the  children  of  Israel  served  Eglon,  king 
of  Moab,  eighteen  years  "  (Judges  iii.  12,  14). 

Shall  we,  who  have  just  liberated  our  slaves,  put 
this    Jehovah   into   our   Constitution,  who   thus  kid- 
napped a  whole  nation,  and  sold  them  for  slaves? 
"  The  Lord  sold  them  into  the  hand  of  Jabin,  king 


\ 


292 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 


293 


n 


Iffiiiu 


of  Canaan,"  "  and  twenty  years  he  mightily  oppressed 
the  children  of  Israel."  And  so  continues  the  dis- 
graceful record.  Out  of  three  hundred  and  thirty 
years,  in  .the  time  of  the  Judges,  when  Jehovah  was 
their  king,  they  were  slaves,  in  the  hands  of  their  ene- 
mies, for  one  hundred  and  eleven  years,  or  more  than 
one-third  of  the  time.  We  are  told,  it  is  true,  that  all 
this  happened  because  the  children  of  Israel  did  evil 
in  the  sight  of  Jehovah,  and  because  they  would  not 
obey  his  commands ;  but  when  we  read  (Judges  xiii. 
1)  that "  the  Lord  delivered  them  into  the  hands  of 
the  Philistines  forty  years,"  the  explanation  is  in- 
sufficient. In  forty  years,  in  a  state  of  bondage,  there 
could  have  been  very  few  alive  of  those  whose  sins 
drove  them  into  captivity ;  and  what  kind  of  a  God  can 
that  be  who  kept  innocent  millions  in  slavery  for  the 
fault  of  a  few  ?  A  sensible  man  would  have  modified 
his  commands  in  the  first  place,  or  taken  such  measures 
as  would  have  led  the  people  to  see  that  it  was  to  their 
interest  to  obey  them.  As  Jehovah  did  neither,  he 
proved  his  unfitness  to  rule  over  the  Israelites,  and 
his  infinite  unfitness  to  rule  over  us. 

On  one  occasion  Jehovah  sold  them  into  the  hands 
of  the  Philistines  and  the  children  of  Ammon,  who 
sorely  oppressed  them,  so  that  they  cried  unto  him. 
But  he  replied,  "  Ye  have  forsaken  me,  and  served 
other  gods :  wherefore  I  will  deliver  you  no  more " 
(Judges  X.  13).  But  even  this  was  a  lie  ;  for  the  very 
next  chapter  tells  us  that  the  Lord  delivered  the  chil- 
dren of  Ammon  into  the  hands  of  Jephthah,  and  they 
were  subdued  before  the  children  of  Israel.  But  the 
poor  wretches  were  only  delivered  for  a  few  years,  to  be 
sold  again  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies  by  their 
Godly  owner. 


The  Israelites  did  much  better  in  the  reigns  of  Saul, 
David,  and  Solomon,  than  at  any  previous  time;  for 
they  had  less  to  do  with  Jehovah,  or  rather  with  his 
priests,  and  more  to  do  with  men  who  understood  their 
needs  and  attended  to  their  supply.  But  their  whole 
history,  from  the  exodus  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem, is  one  long,  bloody  trail  down  the  ages. 

Make  Jehovah  God  of  these  United  States,  and  let 
the  people  become  obedient  to  his  commands  as  they 
would  be  explained  by  his  priests,  and  our  history 
would  be  like  theirs,  and  this  paradise  of  liberty  be- 
come a  Pandemonium  of  tyranny,  a  plague-spot  on  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

A  man  may  be  known,  it  is  said,  by  the  company  he 
keeps ;  and  why  not  a  god  ?  Judging  Jehovah  by  this, 
I  cannot  but  regard  him  as  utterly  unfit  for  the  office 
to  which  his  American  friends  are  so  desirous  of  ele- 
vating him. 

He  is  "  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob." 
Abraham  is  stylW  in  the  Bible  "  the  father  of  the  faith- 
ful, and  the  friend  of  God ; "  an  Arab  chief,  rude  and 
hospitable,  but  crafty,  superstitious,  licentious,  cow- 
ardly, and  cruel.  Twice  he  induced  his  wife  to  lie  for 
him ;  and  in  both  cases  Jehovah  cursed  the  men  to  whom 
she  lied,  but  never  rebuked  either  her  or  Abraham. 
He  turned  another  wife  with  her  child  into  the  wil- 
derness, where,  according  to  the  story,  she  would  have 
perished,  had  not  an  angel  saved  her  ;  and  he  receives 
more  credit  from  Jehovah  for  his  willingness  to  mur- 
der his  son  than  for  any  other  deed  of  his  life. 

Of  Isaac  we  know  but  little ;  but,  like  his  father 
Abraham,  he  was  cowardly,  lying,  and  selfish,  putting 
his  wife's  chastity  in  hazard  to  save  his  life ;  though,  as 


\ 


294 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


POR   OUR   NATIONAL  CONSTITUTION. 


295 


^ 


tbe  event  proved,  there  was  no  danger  whatever.  The 
blessing  that  he  gave  his  son  in  his  old  age  shows  the 
character  of  the  man.  Part  of  it  reads,  "  Let  people 
serve  thee,  and  nations  bow  down  to  thee :  be  lord  over 
thy  brethren,  and  let  thy  mother's  sons  bow  down  to 
thee.'*  That  is  essentially  Jewish  and  Jehovistic. 
Isaac  had  the  same  feeling  for  his  pet  son  that  Jehovah 
had  for  his  pet  nation. 

Of  Jacob  we  know  considerable :  he  was  an  especial 
favorite  of  Jehovah :  he  loved  him,  if  Paul  is  to  be  be- 
lieved, even  before  he  was  born,  and  gave  him,  through 
life,  many  signal  instances  of  his  favor.  Yet  he  was  a 
liar,  cheat,  slaveholder,  polygamist,  and  essentially 
mean  man.  He  lied  to  his  father,  most  shamefully 
lied,  and  in  a  way  that  showed  him  to  have  had  large 
practice.  He  cheated  his  brother  and  his  uncle  ;  and 
when  his  sons  murdered  the  men  of  a  whole  city,  and 
took  all  the  survivors  captive,  this  is  what  the  selfish  old 
stock-raiser  said :  "  Ye  have  troubled  me  to  make  me 
to  stink  among  the  inhabitants  of  tie  land  ;  .  .  .  . 
and  I  shall  be  destroyed,  I  and  my  house."  No  re- 
buke for  the  horrible  crime  committed,  no  word  of 
pity  for  the  widow  and  orphans ;  but,  "  /  shall  be  de- 
stroyed, J  and  my  house''  "Ye  have  troubled  me'' 
If  they  had  not  troubled  him,  and  he  had  been  in  no 
danger,  it  is  evident  that  the  deed  would  never  have 
troubled  him.  ^ 

Yet  this  is  the  man  whom  Jehovah  blesses,  and  with 
whom  he  converses ;  to  whom  he  makes  splendid 
promises,  and  with  whom  he  wrestled  a  whole  night, 
and  lost,  Jacob  obtaining  a  blessing,  which  appears  to 
have  been  the  prize,  though  at  the  expense  of  a  dis- 
located thigh. 


Another  of  the  favorites  of  Jehovah  was  Moses,  a 
man,  apparently,  of  a  good  deal  of  mental  ability  for 
the  time  in  which  he  lived,  and  proud  of  his  nation, 
yet  crafty,  harsh,  exacting,  and  blood-thirsty.  He  mur- 
dered an  Egyptian,  fled  to  Midian,  married  the  daughter 
of  a  Midianite  priest,  and  lived  there  for  forty  years. 
One  might  suppose  that  he  would  have  had  some  re- 
spect for  the  people  of  this  land  of  his  adoption.  Yet, 
on  the  journey  through  the  wilderness,  he  sent  an 
army  against  Midian,  that  slew  every  man,  but  saved 
alive  the  widows,  babies,  and  girls.  As  they  returned 
from  the  massacre  with  the  weeping  captives,  Moses 
meets  them,  and  cries  out,  "  Have  ye  saved  all  the 
women  alive  ?  Now,  therefore,  kill  every  male  among 
the  little  ones,  and  kill  every  woman  that  hath  known 
man  by  lying  with  him:  "  the  girls  they  were  to  keep 
alive  for  themselves.  What  Camanche  chief  ever 
committed  a  greater  atrocity  than  this  ?  And  yet  he 
was  one  of  Jehovah's  favorites,  talking  with  him  for 
hours  together  as  familiarly  as  one  man  talks  with 

another. 

After  the  death  of  Moses,  Joshua  became  the  leader 
of  the  people.  His  public  life  was  that  of  a  marauder 
and  human  butcher,  who  seems  to  have  had  no  more 
pity  than  a  hungry  tiger.  For  years,  at  the  head  of 
a  band  of  cut-throats,  he  went  through  Canaan  among 
a  peaceable  people,  destroying  their  cities,  killing  men, 
women,  and  children,  and  distributing  their  wealth  and 
their  country  among  his  followers.  "  The  Lord,"  we 
are  informed, ''  was  with  him  wherever  he  went ;  "  and 
the  result  is  told  in  the  bloody  record :  "  They  utterly 
destroyed  all  that  was  in  the  city  [Jericho],  both  man 
and  woman,  young  and  old,  and  ox  and  sheep  and 


296 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 


297 


ass,  with  the  edge  of  the  sword."  And  again  :  "  Joshua 
drew  not  his  hand  back  until  he  had  utterly  destroyed 
all  the  inhabitants  of  Ai.''  So  friendly  was  Jeliovah 
with  this  man,  and  so  much  sympathy  did  he  have 
with  him,  that  on  one  occasion,  when  the  people  of 
the  country  united  to  defend  themselves  against  this 
godly  marauder,  and  were  repulsed,  and  the  daylight 
failed,  as  Joshua  pursued  the  flying  host,  Jehovah 
stayed  the  sun  in  the  heaven  for  about  a  whole  day 
that  the  massacre  might  be  complete,  and  rained  down 
great  stones  from  heaven  upon  the  poor  wretches 
who  were  fighting  to  save  their  families  and  their 
homes. 

I  question  whether  the  whole  world's  literature  pre- 
sents a  bloodier  page  than  that  of  the  tenth  chapter  of 
Joshua :  — 

"  And  that  day  Joshua  took  Makkedah,  and  smote 
it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword  ;  and  the  king  thereof  he 
utterly  destroyed,  them,  and  all  the  souls  that  were 
therein. 

"And  he  smote  it  [Libnah]  with  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  and  all  the  souls  that  were  therein :  he  let  none 
remain  in  it. 

"The  Lord  delivered  Lachish  into  the  hand  of 
Israel,  which  took  it  on  the  second  day,  and  smote  it 
with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  all  the  souls  that  were 
therein." 

Then  follows  a  list  of  other  cities  whose  inhabitants 
were  butchered,  from  the  helplessly  old  to  babes  at 
the  breast ;  and  the  document  ends :  "  So  Joshua  smote 
all  the  country  of  the  hills,  and  of  the  south,  and  of 
the  vale,  and  of  the  springs,  and  all  their  kings  :  he 
left  none  remaining,  but  utterly  destroyed   all  that 


breathed."  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  some 
who  are  clamorous  for  God  in  the  Constitution  desire 
just  such  a  God  as  this.  In  a  fair  intellectual  strug- 
gle, they  acknowledge  that  they  are  no  match  for  their 
opponents  ;  but  with  soldiers,  muskets,  cannon,  and 
this  Israel  itish  Moloch,  on  their  side,  they  would  leave 
none  remaining,  "  as  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  com- 
manded." 

There  is  another  man  of  God  who  must  not  be  for- 
gotten in  this  connection,  —  the  Jewish  Hercules,  Sam- 
son. An  angel  of  Jehovah  foretold  his  birth.  When 
he  was  a  child,  Jehovah  blessed  him.  On  the  occasion 
of  his  marriage,  he  wagered  thirty  changes  of  raiment 
with  thirty  young  men  that  they  could  not  find  out 
the  meaning  of  a  riddle  which  he  propounded  to  them. 
Having  lost,  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  came  upon  him, 
and  he  went  down  to  Ashkelon  and  slew  thirty  men, 
stripped  them,  and  gave  their  garments  to  the  young 
men  (Judges  xiv.  19). 

Can  those  men  who  desire  Jehovah  to  rule  over  this 
nation  have  read  these  passages  ?  If  they  have,  do 
they  believe  them  ?  If  they  do,  how  ^are  they  present 
this  gamblers'  companion,  and  instigator  of  murder, 
for  our  acceptance  and  worship  ? 

On  another  occasion  "  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came 
mightily  upon  him."  We  naturally  look  for  some  cor- 
responding lordly  deed ;  and  we  find  it.  He  found 
a  new  jaw-bone  of  an  ass,  and  put  forth  his  hand 
and  took  it,  and  slew  a  thousand  men  therewith.  We 
should  like  to  know  what  the  nine  hundred  were  doing 
while  he  slew  the  first  hundred.  A  man  a  minute 
gave  him  sixteen  and  a  half  hours  of  steady  murder. 
There  stands  the  butcher ;  here  lie  his  victims ;  and 


\ 


298 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


he  exclaims,  "  Heaps  upon  heaps,  with  the  jaw-bone  of 
an  ass  have  I  slain  a  thousand  men."  But  now  he  is 
sore  athirst:  his  long,  unremitting  labor  has  made  him 
faint,  and  he  is  ready  to  die  :  unless  he  can  obtain 
water,  he  must  perish.  What  is  he  doing  now  ?  kneel- 
ing! praying !  Can  it  be  possible  that  such  a  murder- 
ing wretch  as  that  can  pray  ?  Certainly  :  lie  has  a  God, 
the  very  image  of  himself:  it  is  Jehovah.  Listen  to  his 
prayer :  "  Thou  hast  given  this  great  deliverance  into 
the  hand  of  thy  servant ;  and  now  shall  I  die  for  thirst, 
and  fall  into  the  hand  of  the  uncircumcised  ?  "  Jeho- 
vah heard  the  prayer  of  his  faithful  servant,  and  from 
the  bloody,  battered  jaw-bone  flowed  water,  that 
quenched  his  thirst,  and  his  spirit  revived. 

Then  comes  Jehovah's  great  friend  David,  of  whom 
he  said,  "  I  have  found  David,  the  son  of  Jesse,  a  man 
after  mine  own  heart,  which  shall  fulfil  all  my  will" 
(Acts  xiii.  22).  He  must  have  seen  what  a  noble 
man  he  was  destined  to  be.  After  the  death  of  David, 
Jehovah  says  of  him,  "  My  servant  David,  who  kept 
my  commandments,  and  who  followed  me  with  all  his 
heart,  to  do  that  only  which  was  right  in  mine  eyes  " 
(1  Kings  xiv.  8).  He  was  fearless,  firm,  generous  at 
times,  pious,  and  poetic :  but  he  was  guilty  of  almost 
every  crime  ;  and  it  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  no  crimi- 
nal as  great  as  he  lives  in  any  civilized  country  to-day. 
When  he  was  not  more  than  sixteen  years  of  age,  he 
murdered  two  hundred  men  to  please  his  prospective 
father-in-law,  and  mutilated  their  persons  in  a  way 
that  would  disgrace  a  man-eating  savage  (1  Sam.  xviii. 
27). 

He  was  captain  of  a  gang  of  banditti ;  and  in  return 
for  the  hospitality  of  the  king  of  Gath,  to  whom  he 


FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 


299 


fled  when  Saul  pursued  him,  killed  the  inhabitants  of 
a  whole  city  with  whom  that  king  was  friendly,  leaving 
not  a  soul  alive,  lest  they  should  tell  the  tale  of  his 
villany  (1  Sam.  xxvii.  9-12).  And  yet,  after  this, 
he  says,  "  The  Lord  rewarded  me  according  to  my 
righteousness  ;  according  to  the  cleanness  of  my  hands 
hath  he  recompensed  me  "  (2  Sam.  xxii.  21). 

This  reminds  me  of  an  epitaph  that  I  once  saw  in 
Wales  over  the  grave  of  a  prize-fighter  and  drunken 
scoundrel :  — 

"A  man  so  true,  there  are  but  few, 
And  difficult  to  find ; 
A  man  so  just,  and  true  to  trusty 
There  ia  not  left  behind." 


But  this  was  when  David  was  a  young  man :  perhaps 
he  repented,  and  became  a  changed  character,  in  his 
riper  years. 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  Rabbah,  a  city  of  the 
Ammonites,  was  taken  ;  and  David  "  brought  forth  the 
people  that  were  therein,  and  put  them  under  harrows 
of  iron  and  under  axes  of  iron,  and  made  them  pass 
through  the  brick-kiln  ;  and  thus  did  he  unto  the  cities 
of  the  children  of  Ammon"  (2  Sam.  xii.  31).  To 
find  the  equal  of  such  a  cruel  wretch  as  this,  we  need 
to  read  the  annals  of  the  Fiji  Islands. 

But  he  certainly  repented  before  he  died.  Not  he : 
he  had  nothing  to  repent  of.  Jehovah  acknowledges 
that  he  had  done  but  one  wrong  deed  in  his  whole 
life  (1  Kings  xv.  5)  ;  and  that  he  had  repented  of  long 
before.  With  his  dying  breath,  the  hoary  sinner  ad- 
vised his  son  Solomon  to  kill  the  men  whose  lives  he 
had  sworn  to  spare. 


300 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


Time  fails  me  to  tell  of  Rahab  the  harlot,  who  saved 
her  life  by  betraying  into  the  hands  of  murderers  her 
own  city  ;  of  Jephtliah,  who  offered  up  his  daughter  a 
burnt-offering  to  Jehovah  ;  Jael,  who  murdered  the 
fugitive  king,  after  receiving  him  hospitably  into  her 
tent ;  of  Ehud,  who  slew  the  king  of  Moab,  and  who 
said,  as  he  plunged  the  dagger  into  him,  "  I  have  a 
message  from  God  unto  thee  ;  '*  of  Jehu,  who  slew  the 
seventy  innocent  sons  of  Ahab,  his  whole  kindred  and 
his  priests,  and  of  whom  Jehovah  said  he  did  what  was 
in  his  heart ;  and  a  host  of  lesser  liars,  thieves,  and 
murderers,  who  are  spoken  of  in  terms  of  praise  by 
Jehovah. 

There  is  scarcely  a  man  or  woman  mentioned  in  the 
Bible,  with  whom  Jehovah  was  friendly,  whose  life 
was  not  stained  by  crime  that  would,  in  this  day,  send 
a  person  to  the  State-prison  or  to  the  gallows. 

Even  the  prophets  of  Jehovah,  who  are  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  patterns  of  all  excellency,  were 
far  from  being  models  of  virtue.  Samuel  was  a  liar, 
as  we  have  seen  :  he  both  murdered,  and  urged  others 
to  murder ;  and  found  fault  with  Saul  because  he  saved 
the  lives  of  kings  whom  he  had  captured.  Elijah  calls 
down  fire  from  heaven,  and  kills  men  with  no  more 
concern  than  if  they  had  been  flies  (2  Kings  i.). 
Elisha  curses  children  in  the  name  of  Jehovah ;  and 
bears  tear  forty-two  of  them  (2  Kings  ii.  24).  Jeremiah 
never  sci;^iples  to  lie  when  the  king  advises  him 
(Jer.  xxxviii.  27) ;  and  some  of  his  prayers  are  only 
second  to  the  witch-curses  of  David.  Hosea  buys  an 
adulteress  to  live  with  him  (Hos.  1.  3),  after  having 
illicit  intercourse  by  command  of  Jehovah  with  a  pros- 
titute.    Is  this  the  kind  of  God,  a  companion  and 


?^ 


FOR   OUR  NATIONAL  CONSTITUTION. 


301 


abetter  of  liars,  thieves,  and  murderers,  whose  name 
is  to  be  placed  in  the  Constitution  of  our  country,  and 
whose  character  is  to  be  upheld  as  a  model  of  all  ex- 
cellency ? 

I  object  to  Jehovah  in  our  Constitution  because  he 
18  fierce,  jealous,  cruel,  vindictive,  and  even  malignani. 
We  might  as  well  be  lost  souls  in  the  hands  of  a  tor- 
menting Devil  as  to  be  the  subjects  of  such  a  God. 
Moses  describes  Jehovah  correctly :  "  The  Lord  thy  God 
is  a  consuming  fire,  even  a  jealous  God  "  (Deut.  iv.  24). 
The  writer  of  Hebrews  has  a  similar  opinion :  "  God  is  a 
consuming  fire."  Watts,  the  Christian  poet,  draws  his 
portrait  for  us  :  — 

"  Adore  and  tremble ;  for  our  God 

Is  a  consuming  fire : 
His  jealous  eyes  with  wrath  inflame. 

And  raise  his  vengeance  higher. 
Almighty  vengeance,  how  it  burns  I 

How  bright  his  fury  glows  ! 
Vast  magazines  of  plagues  and  storms 

Lie  treasured  for  his  foes." 

Nor  is  this  portrait  overdrawn.  Jehovah  himself, 
by  Jeremiah,  says,  "  I  myself  will  fight  against  you 
with  an  outstretched  arm,  even  in  anger,  and  in  fury, 
and  in  great  wrath."  No  wonder  the  poor  Jews  suffered 
mder  such  circumstances.  To  Moses  he  says  (Deut. 
xxxii.  22),  "  A  fire  is  kindled  in  mine  anger,  and  shall 
burn  unto  the  lowest  hell ; "  and  again,  to  Jeremiah, 
*'  Ye  have  kindled  a  fire  in  mine  anger,  which  shall  burn 
forever."  If  we  heard  a  man  talk  so  to  his  children,  we 
should  set  him  down  as  passionate,  revengeful,  unrea- 
sonable, and  utterly  unfit  to  be  a  parent.  It  is  much 
less  excusable  in  a  God.    Shall  we  make  this  eternally^ 


302 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


angry   and   infinitelj-furious  Jehovah  Lord   of  these 
United  States  ? 

The  deeds  of  Jehovah  are  in  correspondence  with 
his  words.  He  commences  his  career  by  a  fit  of  curs- 
ing, of  which  woman  obtains  the  largest  portion.  Ho 
follows  this  by  drowning  the  entire  human  race  be- 
cause their  conduct  did  not  meet  his  approbation,  and 
thus  made  himself  king  of  murderers,  who  takes  the 
life  of  the  world  as  a  human  murderer  takes  the  life 
of  a  man. 

When  he  sent  Moses  to  Pharaoh  to  tell  him  to  let  the 
people  go,  he  said,  "  But  I  will  harden  his  heart,  that 
he  shall  not  let  the  people  go  "  (Exod.  iv.  21) :  and  then 
we  are  told  that  "  the  Lord  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart, 
so  that  ho  would  not  let  the  children  of  Israel  go  out 
of  hi-,  land  "  (Exod.  xi.  10) ;  and  because  Pharoah  did 
not  let  them  go,  when  he  had  so  hardened  his  heart 
that  he  would  not,  he  murdered  the  first-born  of  his 
entire  nation. 

There  is  a  State-prison  at  Charlestown,  where  several 
hundred  prisoners  are  held.  Pres.  Grant  sends  a  let- 
ter to  the  superintendent,  commanding  him  to  let  the 
prisoners  go;  but,  before  the  letter , reaches  him,  he 
surrounds  the  penitentiary  with  a  guard  of  several 
thousand  soldiers,  who  have  strictest  orders  to  allow  no 
prisoner  to  go  out.  The  superintendent  receives  the 
letter  of  the  President,  but,  owing  to  the  guard,  is  un- 
able to  set  a  single  prisoner  at  liberty.  "  What !  will 
you  not  let  the  prisoners  go?  "writes  the  President: 
"  then  I  will  show  you  my  power,  and  make  you  glad 
to  let  them  go."  He  hangs  the  oldest  son  of  the  super- 
intendent in  front  of  the  prison,  in  sight  of  the  heart- 
broken father  and  mother,  as  a  punishment  for  his 


FOB   OUR  NATIONAL  CONSTITUTION. 


303 


disobedience.  Can  anybody  imagine  ttie  horror  with 
which  such  a  crime  as  this  would  strike  the  heart  of  the 
country  ?  Multiply  this  by  a  million,  and  you  have 
some  idea  of  the  crime  of  Jehovah. 

Shall  we  make  this  greatest  of  wrong-doers  a  God, 
and  our  God  ?    Forbid  it,  says  humanity ;  and  it  must 

be  forbidden. 

When  Jehovah  came  down  on  Mt.  Sinai,  he  said  to 

Moses,  "  Charge  the  people,  lest  they  break  through 

unto  the  Lord  to  gaze,  and  many  of  them  perish,"  — 

as  moths  die  when  they  fly  into  the  flame :  so  Jehovah 

is  a  flaming  fire,  afid  the  people  must  be  kept  out,  or 

they   will   perish.     The  precaution  was   a  necessary 

one.    When  the   ark  of  Jehovah  was  sent  from   the 

land  of  the  Philistines  back  to  Judaea,  the  cattle  that 

drew  it  went  into  a  field  near   Bethshemesh.      The 

Bethshemites  were  apparently  inquisitive,  and  thought 

this  a  good  opportunity  to  see  what  was  in  an  old  box, 

of  which  they  had  frequently  heard  ;  but,  had  it  been 

Pandora's  box,  it  could  not  have  been  more  deadly. 

Jehovah  was  very  angry  at  their  intrusion,  and  slew 

of  the  men  of  Bethsliemesh  fifty  thousand  and  seventy ! 

This  God  can  wink  at  lying,  theft,  murder,  licentious- 

ness,  and   praise   the   men  who   are   guilty  of  these 

crimes  ;  but,  when  inquisitive  people  look  into  one  of 

his  chests,  he   strikes   tens  of  thousands  with  death. 

Shall  we  place  the  name  of  this  almighty  Bluebeard 

in  our  national  Constitution  ? 

In  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  First  of  Samuel,  we 
are  informed  that  Jehovah  told  Samuel  that  he  re- 
membered what  Amalek  did  to  Israel  when  he  came 
up  from  Egypt:  that  was,  remember,  four  hundred 
years  before.     For  this  he  tells  him  to  command  Saul 


304 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


M   I 


to  smite  Amalek,  and  utterly  destroy  man,  woman, 
infant,  and  suckling ;  and,  because  Saul  did  not  wholly 
execute  the  horrible  command,  Jehovah  was  angry 
with  him,  and  repented  that  he  had  made  him  king 
over  Israel. 

During  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  nearly  three 
hundred  years  since,  an  immense  Armada  left  Spain  to 
conquef  England.     Suppose  Jehovah  should  command 
Queen  Victoria  to  kill  every  man,  woman,  infant,  and 
suckling  in  Spain  because  he  remembered  this,  and 
that  she  went  with  an  army  and  did  as  she  was  com- 
manded, but  saved  the  king  of  Spain  alive,  and  that 
Jehovah  was  angry  because  she  had  not  killed  him 
also:  it  would  not  be  quite  as  bad  as  the  conduct  of 
Jehovah  to  the  Amalekites;  for  they  were  a  hundred 
years  farther  removed  from  the  crime  said  to  have 
been  committed  by  their  fathers. 

Was  viler  deed  than  this  ever  done  in  the  name  of 
the  child-devouring  Moloch  ? 

In  the  time  of  David,  there  was  a  three-years'  fam- 
ine in  the  land.     David  inquired  of  Jehovah  what  was 
the  cause  ;  and  Jehovah  answered,  "  It  is  for  Saul  and 
his  bloody  house,  because  he  slew  the  Gibeonites " 
(2  Sam.  xxi.).     Here  is  a  strange  story.     Saul  slew 
the  Gibeonites;   and  for  this  God  torments  a  whole 
nation  by  famine  in  the  days  of  David.    What  can  be 
done  ?     Saul  is  dead,  and  probably  damned.     David 
asks  the  Gibeonites  how  he  can  make   an  atonement 
for  the  crime  done  by  Saul,  and  they  reply  by  asking 
him  to  hang  seven  of  Saul's  sons.     David  hangs  two 
sons  of  Saul,  and  five  grandsons,  —  the  sons  being  his 
brothers-in-law,  and  the  grandsons  his  step-sons  ;\nd 
after  that  we  are  piously  told  that  God  was  entreated 


FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 


305 


for  the  land.  After  the  seven  innocent  men  were 
hung,  Jehovah  caused  the  famine  to  cease  :  his  thirst 
for  blood  was  satisfied. 

Bad  as  are  the  representations  of  Jehovah  in  the 
Old  Testament,  those  of  the  New  are  infinitely  worse. 
Jesus,  it  is  true,  calls  him  "  our  Father ;  "  and  we  are 
told  by  John  that  "  God  is  love :  "  but  such  a»  father  ! 
and  such  love !  Jesus,  whom  we  are  assured  is  the 
representative  of  Jehovah,  tells  us  that  those  who  be- 
lieve not  in  him  are  to  "  be  damned  "  (Mark  xvi.  16) ; 
and  those  who  have  not  administered  to  him  in  the 
person  of  his  believers  are  to  go  "  into  everlasting 
fire  prepared  for  the  Devil  and  his  angels  "  (Matt. 
XXV.  41).  Again :  he  tells  us  that  "  all  who  do  iniquity 
shall  be  cast  into  a  furnace  of  fire,  where  there  shall 
be  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  There  the  doomed 
wretches,  according  to  the  apocalyptic  seer,  are  to 
"  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is 
pojiired  out  without  mixture  into  the  cup  of  his  in- 
dignation ;  and  they  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and 
brimstone  in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  Lamb,  where  the  smoke  of  their 
torment  ascendeth  for  ever  and  ever'*  (Rev.  xiv.  10)  ; 
where,  as  good  Dr.  Watts  so  beautifully   expresses 

it,- 

**  Tempcsta  of  angry  fire  shall  roll 
To  blast  the  rebel  worm. 
And  beat  upon  his  naked  sonl 
In  one  eternal  storm.'' 


\l 


Jehovah  made  this  hell  of  horror.  Before  him  stand 
earth's  millions,  more  numerous  than  her  sand-grains. 
He  calls  up  the  few,  the  chosen  few,  who  were  mean, 
ignorant,  or  sycophantic  enough  to  worship  him,  —  not 


306 


THE   GOD   PROPOSED 


r  H 


one  in  a  thousand :  to  the  rest  he  turns,  and,  with  a 
voice  that  shakes  the  distant  stars,  lie  roars,  "  Depart, 
ye  cursed  !  "  Down  drop  the  myriads,  —  men,  women, 
fathers,  mothers,  beautiful  maidens,  noble  men  ;  the 
sweetest  poets,  the  best  of  mechanics,  the  boldest 
navigators ;  painters  whose  creations  have  gladdened 
the  eyes  of  many  generations;  musicians  who  have 
made  the  air  more  melodious  for  all  time  ;  true  believ- 
ers, miscalled  infidels,  who  have  broken  tiie  shackles  of 
priestcraft  and  superstition  from  the  limbs  of  millions, 
—  down  they  go  into  that  lake  of  fire,  to  hear  Jehovah's 
laugh  re-echo  through  the  caverns  of  the  damned,  and 
his  voice  saying,  "  I  told  you  in  my  Word  that  I  would 
laugh  at  your  calamity,  and  mock  when  your  fear 
came.''  And  to  all  eternity  the  jailer  holds  his  cap- 
tives, and  applies  his  tortures ;  for  "  their  worm  dieth 
not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched." 

This  revelation  of  Jehovah  we  owe  to  Jesus,  who, 
we  are  told,  is  Jehovah  in  another  form ;  and  he 
frequently  anticipates  the  time  when  he  shall  execute 
his  wrath  upon  the  helpless  victims  that  shall  stand 
before  his  blazing  throne. 

The  fact  is,  that  this  Jehovah  is  the  idol  of  a  Syrian 
mountain-tribe,  that  has  been  foisted  upon  the  rest 
of  mankind  under  the  penalty  of  eternal  torments,  and 
modified  from  age  to  age,  but  his  worst  features  re- 
tained even  to  our  own  day.  I  arraign  him  in  the 
name  of  the  millions  who  are  held  by  him  in  spiritual 
bondage ;  in  the  name  of  the  freemen  of  America, 
whose  enslavement  is  sought  by  the  incorporation  of 
this  tyrant's  name  into  the  charter  of  our  liberties. 
Away  with  you,  hideous  monster,  in  whom  meet  the 
worst  vices  of  the  barbarous  people  who  made  you, 


FOB   OUR  NATIONAL  CONSTITUTIDN, 


307 


and  the  ignorant  and  fearful  who  still  believe  in  you ! 
You  may  do  for  God  of  the  wolves  that  prowl  over  our 
Western  prairies  and  hunt  down  sick  buffaloes,  or  the 
hyenas  that  make  night  hideous  in  your  Holy  Land. 
Your  name  may  properly  be  inserted  on  the  black  flag 
of  every  pirate  vessel,  between  the  death's-head  and 
the  cross-bones.  Infinite  tyrant,  king  of  miscreants, 
woman-curser,  soul-tormentor,  destroyer  of  the  world, 
architect  of  hell,  inventor  of  its  tortures,  and  supplier 
of  its  eternal  fires,  go  with  your  co-partner,  the  Devil ! 
You  belong  to  the  ignorance,  brutality,  and  lust  of  au 
age  long  past.  Go  to  the  heU  to  wliich  you  have  so 
long  consigned  the  best  representatives  of  our  race ! 
and  may  your  name  and  history  alone  remain  for  a 
warning  and  a  lesson  to  all  generations ! 

I  am  told  that  Jehovah  was  the  highest  ideal  of  the 
Divine  that  the  Israelites  could  form  at  the  time.  I 
do  not  object  to  this :  so  Zeus  was  the  highest  ideal  of 
the  Greek,  and  all  Hellas  united  to  do  homage  to 
their  god  of  gods.  Shall  we  incorporate  Jupiter  with 
our  Constitution,  or  acknowledge  that  he  is  god  because 
an  intelligent  people  once  regarded  him  as  such  ? 

I  have  generally  argued  as  if  the  Bible  was  a  record 
of  facts,  and  its  God  a  reality.  Most  of  you  know  bet- 
ter. The  Bible  is  no  more  of  an  authority  to  you  than 
the  Book  of  Mormon.  To  you  its  God  does  not  exist, 
and  you  may  therefore  think  he  is  perfectly  harmless. 
You  may  remember  that  the  Greeks  besieged  Troy 
for  weary  years  in  vain,  but  at  length  accomplished 
by  stratagem  what  they  could  not  do  by  force  of  arms. 
They  made  a  large  wooden  horse,  and  filled  it  with 
armed  men,  and  retreated  to  a  distance  as  if  they  had 
broken  up  the  siege,  and  patiently  waited  for  the  re- 


\l 


t' 


Ill 


308      THE   GOD   FOR   OUR   NATIONAL   CONSTITUTION. 

suit.  The  Trojans,  finding  their  enemies  gone,  came 
out  of  the  city,  and  soon  spied  the  harmless  wooden 
horse.  "  Let  us  draw  it  into  the  city,"  said  they.  It 
was  done;  but,  that  night,  out  issued  the  armed  men, 
opened  the  gates  to  their  companions,  who  had  re- 
turned, and  Troy  fell. 

This  God  may  seem  to  be  a  very  harmless  fellow, 
since  he  is  only  a  thought  god  or  a  paper  god ;  but, 
admit  him  into  our  Constitution,  and  out  will  come  the 
army  of  fifty  thousand  priests  that  are  hidden  in  his 
bowels,  the  gates  will  be  opened  to  our  enemies,  and 
religious  freedom  be  no  more. 


'II 


u 


III  I 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


A  SERMON  FROM  .SHAKSPEARE'S  TEXT, 

"  Tongueg  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks. 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing." 


My  text  will  be  found  in  the  play  of  "  As  You 
Like  it,"  Act  II.,  Scene  1 :  — 

**  And  this  our  life,  exempt  from  public  haunt, 
Finds  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing." 

Shakspeare  was  a  mental  Argus,  whose  hundred  eyes 
nothing  could  escape.  Men  see  by  their  brains  still  more 
than  they  do  by  their  eyes ;  and  his  were  brains  so  devel- 
oped that  they  enabled  his  eyes  to  see  what  mortal 
had  never  beheld  before.  He  was  a  walking  polyglot, 
with  as  many  tongues  as  eyes ;  what  his  eyes  beheld, 
his  tongues  had  the  ability  to  speak,  —  ability  how  , 
rare !  He  peered  through  the  palace  walls  and  beheld 
the  secret  deeds  of  kings  ;  and  there  was  no  dungeon 
80  dark  but  his  eye  beheld  the  prisoner.  He  saw,  too, 
the  thought  of  each  ;  he  heard  their  uttered  fancies;, 
he  beheld  their  aspirations,  and  embodied  them  in 
glowing  language  that  speaks  to  every  heart.     In  him 

811 


312 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


\i^ 


/ 


;  V 


HI 


the  silent  trees  found  utterance,  the  babbling  brooks 
discoursed  in  rational  speech,  and  the  very  stones 
cried  out  with  eloquent  tongue. 

Nature,  the  ready-helper  of  genius,  bowed  to  him, 
and  opened  wide  the  door  of  her  domain  for  his  obser- 
vance and  appropriation.  She  whispered  her  choicest 
secrets  into  his  ear,  and  found  him  a  worthy  listener,  — 
a  true  man,  who  proclaimed  them  aloud  for  the  benefit 
of  the  world. 

I  can  fancy  William  Shakspeare,  after  rambling  by 
the  banks  of  the  flowing  Avon,  and  watching  the  pel- 
lucid stream  flow  over  its  pebbly  bottom,  and  the  trees 
bending  lovingly  over  it,  returning  to  write, "  And  this 
our  life,  exempt  from  public  haunt,  finds  tongues  in 
trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks,  sermons  in  stones, 
and  good  in  every  thing."  Let  us,  this  afternoon,  hear 
these  tongued  trees,  read  the  books  that  are  in  the 
running  brooks,  listen  to  the  sermons  that  the  stones 
dispense,  and  find  and  appropriate  tJie  good  that 
dwells  in  every  thing. 

It  is  autumn.  We  lie  upon  the  velvet  sward,  and 
watch  the  squirrels  skip.  Grand  old  trees,  lordly 
possessors  of  the  soil,  how  I  love  you  !  You  lift  your 
myriad  hands  to  heaven,  and  wave  your  tinted  banners 
in  your  joy,  as  if  a  wintry  wind  could  never  blow. 
Generations  of  leaves  have  flourished,  dropped,  and  de- 
cayed around  you  ;  but  there  you  stand,  renewing  your 
beauty  from  year  to  year.  You  have  put  down  your 
radiating  roots  deep  into  the  soil,  have  sucked  up  by  a 
million  mouths  the  nourishment  needed  for  your 
growth,  and  transformed  the  gross,  dark  iiiould  into 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


313 


the  regal  garments  you  wear ;  and,  though  the  storm 
has  swept  many  a  time  around  you,  you  have  only 
knit  your  hearts  the  firmer,  and  soared  daily  nearer 
and  nearer  to  heaven.  Beautiful  I  trees,  eloquent 
trees !  we  listen  to  your  tongues,  and  we  learn  your 
lessons.  So  stands  the  true  man  :  rooted  in  the  earth, 
watered  by  its  springs,  fed  by  its  soil,  but  using  these 
only  as  a  means  to  climb  into  the  spiritual  realm 
above  him ;  shedding  old  opinions,  false  notions,  bar- 
barous creeds,  as  a  tree  sheds  its  leaves  ;  but  his  firm 
heart  grows  but  the  firmer  in  the  right,  his  aims  the 
purer,  new  and  true  opinions  take  the  place  of  the  old, 
and  he  climbs  year  by  year  nearer  and  nearer  to  perfect 
manhood. 

Down  drop  the  aconis  around  us.  What  magical 
globes  are  these !  The  Chinese  carve,  with  admirable 
skill,  half-a-dozen  ivory  globes  one  within  the  other ; 
but  what  are  they  to  this  forest-containing  acorn  ? 
Folded  within  this  shell  is  that  life  which  makes  the 
future  tree,  its  leaves,  its  blossoms,  its  fruit,  and  the 
untold  millions  of  its  descendants ;  an  artist  lies  sleeping 
here  that  may  beautify  a  thousand  worlds  that  are  yet 
to  be.  So  the  truth,  spoken  or  written,  is  a  seed 
endowed  with  perpetual  life,  and  the  power  to  educe 
new  truths  and  bless  the  world  forever.  Error  is  a 
stake  driven  into  the  ground.  Every  drop  that  falls 
tends  to  rot  it,  every  wind  to  blow  it  down.  All  nature 
conspires  against  it ;  and  its  destruction  is  certain. 

How  these  trees  struggle  upward  for  the  light! 
How  they  "  shoulder  each  other  for  the  sun's  smile  !  " 
Why  are  these  crowded  trees  so  tall,  so  straight,  and 


\ 


314 


A  SEEMON  FEOM  SHAKSPEAKE. 


Ill' 


« 


^111 


their  trunks  so  small  ?  Every  thing  is  sacrificed  for 
light.  The  last  words  of  the  dying  Goethe  are  their 
motto,  —  "  Light,  more  light !  "  Listen  to  that  tongue, 
my  brother,  and  learn.  Let  thy  motto  be,  "  Up  to  the 
sunlight !  "  What  are  riches,  broad  lands,  magnificent 
house,  honor,  fame,  when  they  go  witli  an  ignorant, 
undeveloped  soul  ?  Men  squat  and  spread  like  toad- 
stools under  the  dripping  trees  iu  the  twilight,  instead 
of  soaring  like  pines  to  live  in  the  sun's  continual 
smile. 

See  on  these  trees  the  effect  of  surrounding  con- 
ditions. Mark  the  one  that  has  had  light  on  every 
side :  how  symmetrical,  liow  beautiful  is  that  tree !  It 
is,  as  the  poet  says,  "  a  thing  of  beauty  and  a  joy  for- 
ever." But  mark  that  tree  shaded  on  every  side  but 
one,  —  uneven,  warped,  lopsided  :  toward  the  light  it 
grew,  toward  the  shade  it  refused  to  grow ;  and  it 
would  rather  grow  crooked  than  not  at  all.  Far  from 
it  is  the  beauty  and  grace  that  go  with  the  proper  con- 
ditions for  development.  Here  is  an  eloquent  tongue. 
Tupper  says, "  Scratch  the  rind  of  the  sapling,  and  the 
knotted  oak  will  tell  of  it  for  centuries  to  come." 
There  is  a  distorted  ash,  whose  ugliness  makes  the 
raven  croak,  as  it  flies  over  it.  The  hoof  of  a  flying 
deer  trampled  it  into  the  earth  when  it  was  a  tender 
sapling,  and  it  will  bear  the  brand  of  it  while  life  lasts. 
That  criminal  you  clutch  by  the  throat,  policeman,  and 
strike  with  your  billy,  —  he,  too,  was  trampled  upon  in 
his  infancy ;  nor  is  the  hoof  of  society  off  him  yet. 
Lift  him  up,  give  him  a  chance :  room  for  him !  air  for 
him !   sunshine  for  him !     So  much  is  assured :  in  the 


A  SEEMON  FROM  SHAKSPEAKE. 


315 


great  hereafter,  he  shall  have  the  chance  for  develop- 
ment that  he  never  had  here.  This  crabbed  old 
woman,  gnarled  as  a  knotty  oak,  slanderer,  liar,  thief,  — 
she,  too,  came  to  be  so  by  causes.  Once  she  was  a 
smiling,  prattling  baby,  the  joy  of  her  mother's  heart, 
dearer  to  her  than  a  cherub  from  paradise.  She  grew, 
she  was  tempted,  fell,  was  trampled  under  the  feet  of 
the  scrambling  crowd  of  onrushing  humanity.  Charity 
for  her  I  light  for  her !  heaven  for  her,  too,  where  all 
wrongs  are  at  last  to  be  righted,  and  the  crooked  made 
straight ! 

There  is  another  tongue  in  these  trees  that  dis- 
courses patience.  The  slower  the  growth,  the  firmer 
the  tree,  and  the  more  enduring  the  wood.  "  See  me 
grow,"  said  the  squash  to  the  oak  ;  "  I  shall  cover  a 
rod  while  your  feeble  head  is  rising  a  single  inch." 
So  it  was :  the  squash  covered  tlie  ground  for  many  a 
yard,  while  the  oak  seemed  an  idler ;  but  there  stood 
the  oak  in  its  majesty  when  hundreds  of  generations  of 
the  squash  had  perished.  The  tree  grows  by  steady, 
persistent  effort :  so  can  you.  IJo  not  hurry,  do  not 
idle;  but  steadily  mount,  and  success,  the  highest 
success,  is  yours.  Go  into  the  woods  now :  how  silent 
they  are  !  Put  your  car  to  the  trunks  of  the  trees ;  can 
you  hear  any  thing  ?  Not  a  whisper :  they  are  still  as 
death ;  yet  engines  are  pumping,  and  sap  is  rushing 
through  a  million  pipes  to  accomplish  a  most  important 
work.  The  mandate  has  gone  forth :  every  tree  must 
be  clad  in  velvet-green  to  greet  the  dawning  spring ; 
and  there  is  but  a  montli  in  which  to  do  it.  All  the 
trees  of  the  forest  are  busy  preparing  their  new  dresses 


\ 


816 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


i 


in  honor  of  tlie  coming  queen.  Suppose  a  thousand 
young  ladies  were  to  be  furnished  with  new  dresses 
within  the  next  month:  what  an  excitement  would 
there  be!  what  a  snipping  of  scissors,  tearing  of 
cloth,  running  of  sewing  machines,  —  yes,  and  of  talk- 
ing machines  too,  —  before  all  were  provided  !  And 
yet  here  are  all  the  trees  of  the  forest  making  their  new 
dresses  without  contention,  without  noise,  without  the 
intervention  of  a  French  artiste,  in  the  good,  old- 
fashioned  style  which  can  never  be  improved. 

The  storm  goes  howling  by.  What  a  noise !  It 
rouses  the  world !  "  Here  am  I :  listen  to  me  ;  see 
what  I  can  do !  "  But  when  it  is  over,  there  lie  a  few 
rotten  trunks  prostrated  by  its  power.  Witliout  blus- 
ter, or  even  sound,  the  million-columned  woods  arise, 
and  God's  first  and  best  temples  are  reared.  It  is  not 
the  most  noisy  that  accomplish  the  most.  The  armies 
march,  the  music  sounds,  the  cannons  thunder.  "  These 
are  they  that  do  the  world's  work,''  says  the  crowd. 
Some  thinker  in  his  silent  study  does  more  than  they 
all.  Bonaparte  bestrides  Europe  like  a  colossus :  his 
voice  makes  every  throne  tremble  ;  all  eyes  are  turned 
to  him,  and  all  ears  are  dinned  with  his  name ;  but 
James  Watt,  obscurely  laboring  to  perfect  ilie  steam- 
engine,  has  done  infinitely  more  to  change  the  face  of 
the  world,  to  revolutionize  society,  and,  above  all,  to 
bless  the  human  i-ace. 

Cut  a  tree  down,  and  examine  the  rings  of  its 
growth,  and  you  will  fiud  an  eloquent  tongue  that 
gives  the  lie  to  many  other  tongues.  Tiie  whole  his- 
tory of  the  tree,  and  of  the  times  in  which  it  flourished, 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


317 


is  indelibly  written  in  the  grain  of  the  trunk.     Twenty 
years  ago  there  was  a  cool,  short,  and  dry  summer  : 
here  is  the  narrow  ring  that  answers  to  that  summer. 
See  that  expanded  circle :  fifty  years  ago  there  was  a 
warm,  moist  season  ;  and  you  see  the  result.    Not  a  day 
passed  over  this  tree  that  has  not  left  its  record  around 
its  heart,  never  to  be  forgotten,  never  to  be  erased.     I 
tell  you,  my  brother,  my  sister,  so   is  it  with  you. 
Thus  we  build  up  the  inward  m^an  day  by  day.     There 
is  not  an  hour  in  your  history  that  is  not  inwoven,  in- 
grown into  the  very  constitution   of  your  soul,  that 
does  not  exercise  an  influence  on  your  destiny ;  and 
there  is  nothing  that  can  make  it  be  as  though  it  had 
never  been.     I  know  how  common  it  is  for  men  to  be- 
lieve  and   teach   that  Jesus  can   wipe   out,   at   one 
stroke,  and  in  a  moment,  the  consequences  of  their 
misdeeds,  —  that  five  minutes  of  prayer  can  remove 
the  dark  stains  of  fifty  years  of  crime  ;  but  nothing  can 
be  more  false.     Nature  tells  us  this  in  the  grand  elo- 
quence of  these  trees.     Do  you  think  that  any  amount 
of  waving  on  the  part  of  the  green  leaves,  this  coming 
summer,  can  remove  the  eSect  of  the  dry  seasons  long 
gone  by,  and  expand  those  contracted  rings  of  growth 
to  full  dimensions  ?     When  conditions  are  unfavorable 
for  their  proper  development,  where  are  the  Christs  for 
the  trees,  —  to  remove  the  scars,  straighten  the  bended 
trunk,  and  fill  out  the  lean  circumference  ?   These  very 
tree-tongues  give  the  lie  to  this  orthodox  fable,  that 
man  can  do  wrong,  thus  hindering  his  spiritual  growth 
and  cramping  his  soul,  and  then  escape  the  legitimate 
consequences  of  that-  wrong-doing. 


\ 


\ 


318 


A  SEKMON  FEOM  SHAKSPEARE. 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


319 


\y 


Mark,  too,  the  tendency  in  all  trees  to  symmetry  and 
beauty,  each  of  its  own  kind.  Take  that  young  tree 
and  hew  off  its  limbs,  —  reduce  it,  if  you  please,  to  a 
naked,  crooked  stick.  What  does  it  do  ?  It  commences 
instantly  to  repair  damages.  The  unsightly  cuts  are 
salved  with  new  bark ;  to  the  right  grows  a  branch,  to 
the  left  a  corresponding  branch.  A  spirit  of  bcauQr 
presides  over  it,  and  employs  her  agents  to  adorn  it ; 
blossoms  expand  in  thgir  loveliness,  fruit  is  developed, 
and  the  tree  stands  at  last  as  perfect  as  its  more 
favored  neighbors.  There  is  inherent  in  all  nature 
this  tendency  to  symmetry  and  beauty.  The  clay- 
stone  no  less  than  the  crystal  show  it  in  the  mineral 
kingdom ;  the  vegetable  kingdom  displays  it  from  the 
fucoid  of  the  sea-bottom  to  the  pine  of  the  mountain- 
top  ;  and  is  man  destitute  of  it  ?  He  is  and  is  to  be  its 
most  glorious  manifestation.  Man,  though  king-curst 
and  priest-curst  and  God-curst,  — 

"  Though  sia  and  the  devil  hath  boand  him,"  — 

has  yet  within  him  that  divine  spirit  which,  in  spite 
of  unfavorable  conditions,  shall  push  him  onward  to 
excellence,  toward  perfection. 

Were  I  to  tell  all  tliat  the  trees  have  to  teach,  how 
long  would  my  sermon  last  ?  By  what  possibility  could 
it  ever  have  an  end  ?  It  seems  to  me,  as  I  go  into  the 
woods  and  listen  to  their  tongues,  that  all  other  words 
are  needless.  They  are  the  most  eloquent  of  preach- 
ers ;  and,  listening  to  them,  we  can  well  afford  to  let 
all  others  be  silent.    Multitudes  who  throng  the  piles 


4 

of  superstition  on  Sundays  would  be  more  blessed  by 
attending  the  green  temples  of  Nature,  and  entering 
into  the  spirit  that  breathes  from  every  leaf. 

I  watch  these  trees,  and  see  how  they  grow,  day  by 
day,  year  by  year,  becoming  larger,  fairer,  as  the  sea- 
sons pass.     But  I  am  told  that,  when  the  tree  arrives 
at  its  perfection,  — which  all  may  attain  in  a  few  cen- 
turies, like  the  stars  when  they  culminate,  —  it  begins 
to  sink,  and  nothing  can  arrest  its  decay  and  death.    It 
is  resolved  into  its  original  components :  it  is  gone  as  a 
tree,  — entered  into  the  dust  from  which  it  can  never 
more  emerge.     And  yet,  out  of  the  very  dust  of  that 
tree  up  springs  a  new  one,  fairer  and  brighter  for  the 
richness  of  the  soil  gained  from  the  ashes  of  its  prede- 
cessor.    Nor  is  that  all.     Extravagant  as  it  may  seem, 
I  have  learned  that  there  is  a  future  life  even  for  trees. 
Tliere  is  room  enough  in  an  infinite  universe  for  all 
the  trees  that  ever  blossomed :    somewhere  they  are 
blossoming  still.     How  much  more  shall  there  be  room 
for  the  men.    They  are  all  living  still.    A  brighter  sky 
than  we  ever  saw  bends  over  them  ;  a  more  glorious 
sun  sheds  his  rays  on  their  heads ;  the  winds  of  benefi- 
cent conditions  play  around  them.    Development  in  the 
grand  future  is  their  inalienable  destiny. 

But  Shakspeare  says  there  are  "  books  in  the  running 
brooks;''  and  we  must  not  listen  too  long  to  these 
trees,  or  we  shall  lose  the  lessons  that  are  contained  in 
those  running  brooks.  Strange  places  to  find  books ! 
No  less  strange,  and  quite  as  interesthig,  are  the  books 
themselves  that  we  find  in  this  alcove  of  Nature's  libra- 
ry, free  for  all.     There  is  a  book  on  chronology,  and  a 


820 


A  SEEMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


A  SEEMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARB. 


321 


^^ 


wouderful  book  it  is :  our  longest  chronological  lists 
are  invisible  when  compared  with  this.    At  Niagara,— 
one  of  our  brooks,  —you  see  an  ocean  of  water  pour- 
ing over  the  solid  limestone  into  the  foaming  abyss 
beneatli.     At  Queenstown,  seven  miles  below,  the  cat- 
aract once  was  ;  and  the  deep  channel  between  the  two 
shows  what  the  water  has  accomplished,  fretting  the 
solid  rock  through  the  ages.     Though  fifty  thousand 
years  were  probably  spent  in  the  work,  yet  that  is  but 
a  day  in  the  geologic  calendar.     But  what  is  this,  com- 
pared with  the  record  of  other  brooks  ?     The  Colorado 
has  worn  a  canon  three  hundred  miles  long,  and  in 
places  more   than   a   mile   deep,  and  for  a  thousand 
feet  through  solid  granite.     Thousands  of  centuries 
must  have  been  employed  in  the  work.     These  grand 
brooks  are  older  than  Britain  and  tlie  Druids,  Greece 
and  Etruria ;  older  than  the  mummies ;  ay,  older  than 
Egypt  itself,  for  it  is  made  of  the  mud  that  one  of  these 
brooks  laid  down  ;  older  than  the  old  serpent  and  the 
Christians  that  made  him ;  older  than  Noah  and  his 
wonderful  box  ;  older,  indeed,  than  the  Jews  and  Je- 
hovah,—"the  Ancient  of  days,"  — their  handiwork, 
or,  rather,  their  headwork.     These  brooks  have  been 
rolling  for  ages  where  they  now  are,  doing  the  work 
of  the  world,  as  they  have  prepared  it  for  the  habitation 
of  mankind. 

There  is  a  volume  on  perseverance  in  the  brooks  that 
many  might  read  with  benefit.  There  was  a  time 
when  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  extended  to  where  Cairo  in 
Illinois  now  is ;  and  the  Mississippi,  by  patient  perse- 
verance, has  filled  up  the  Gulf  to  New  Orleans ;  and  it 


is  destined  to  annex  Cuba  to  the  United  States,  whether 
Spain  favors  the  annexation  or  opposes  it.  They  have 
carried  to  their  graves  in  the  ocean-depths  mountains 
innumerable,  and  are  now  engaged  in  ferrying  down 
all  that  remain.  Not  a  day  but  they  lay  down  part  of 
Mont  Blanc  and  Mount  Washington,  Cotopaxi  and 
Chimborazo ;  and  ere  long,  by  their  aid,  the  ocean 
shall  roll  over  the  heads  of  the  loftiest  peaks.  They 
have  made  seven  miles  of  fossilliferous  rock,  and  formed 
the  grand  continents,  on  whose  surface  we  dwell ;  and 
yet  the  process  by  which  all  this  is  accomplished  is  so 
gradual,  that  but  few  are  aware  of  what  is  going  on 
around  them.  There  is  a  book  on  perseverance  that  it 
will  do  you  good  to  read,  young  man,  young  woman. 
Never  despair  of  accomplishing  your  soul's  earnest 
wish.  The  very  desire  to  be  and  to  do  indicates  the 
power  to  be  and  to  do  what  you  desire  :  a  day  may  do 
but  little,  but  you  have  an  eternity  to  operate  in.  A 
drop  a  day  would  drain  the  ocean  in  time  ;  and  you 
need  never  be  discouraged. 

I  saw  a  silvery  rill  descending  from  the  mountain ; 
clear  as  crystal  were  its  waters,  as  it  leaped  down  with 
tinkling  feet  on  its  mission  of  usefulness  and  love.  "I 
will  stop  its  babbling,"  said  the  Frost,  as  he  laid  his 
cold  hand  upon  it,  icy  as  death  ;  and  it  staggered  and 
grew  still.  "  I  will  bury  it  from  sight,"  said  the  Snow ; 
and  down  dropped  its  fleecy  mantle  and  hid  the  rill 
from  my  gaze.  "Alas!"  said  I,  "for  the  beautiful 
stream,  the  envy  of  the  Frost  and  Snow  has  destroyed 
it  forever."  But  while  I  mourned,  the  south  wind 
blew  with  genial  breath,  the  sun  looked  through  the 

SI 


322 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


i) 


.! 


craggy  clouds,  the  bonds  of  the  rill  were  broken,  snow 
and  ice  did  but  inc  «.se  its  waters,  and  away  danced 
its  waters  more  merrily  than  before.  On  it  sped  ;  and 
wherever  it  went  the  trees  arrayed  themselves  in  their 
greenest  dresses,  they  lifted  up  their  heads  and  waved 
their  banners  in  its  praise ;  the  birds  sang  to  it  in  their 
leafy  bowers,  and  the  flowers  kissed  it  with  their  sweet 
lips  as  it  ran.  But  tlie  hills  saw  it,  and  they  were 
offended.  "  Why  should  we  allow  this  vagrant  to  roam 
at  large,"  said  they,  ■ —  "  this  leveller,  this  underminer 
and  destroyer  of  all  things  old  and  sacred  ?  Why 
should  we  allow  it  to  chafe  our  sides,  and  set  at  defi- 
ance the  limits  set  in  the  days  gone  by  ?  Let  us  unite, 
and  crush  it  forever.'*  So  saying,  they  encircled  the 
brook  in  their  close  embrace,  and  presented  a  seem- 
ingly impassable  barrier  to  its  further  passage ;  and 
again  it  was  lost  to  my  sight.  But,  though  unseen,  it 
was  busy  as  ever,  searching  every  crevice,  flowing  into 
every  cranny,  to  find  a  passage  through  the  frowning 
hills.  "  If  I  cannot  get  through,  I  must  go  over,"  said 
the  brook.  "  Ah,  ha !  "  laughed  the  hills ;  and  they 
clapped  their  hands,  and  said,  "  Listen  to  the  little  fel- 
low. We  have  stopped  his  mad  career  ;  no  more  shall 
he  roam  among  the  trees,  and  disport  himself  with  the 
flowers ;  no  more  shall  he  remove  the  moss-grown 
rocks,  invade  our  sacred  retreats,  and  undermine  the 
foundations  of  ages :  his  work  is  done,  his  life  is  ended." 
But,  inch  by  inch,  and  foot  by  foot,  the  water  rose 
above  the  woody  sides  of  the  hills  ;  and,  reaching  a  val- 
ley between  two  peaks,  the  hills  saw,  to  their  astonish- 
ment, the  despised  brook,  now  swollen  to  a  river,  go 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


323 


thundering  down  upon  the  plain  with  tenfold  power. 
On  it  flowed,  daily  broader,  deeper,  receiving  acces- 
sions from  a  thousand  flowing  streams,  blessing  thirsty 
lands,  and  administering  to  man's  welfare,  till  it  poured 
at  last  its  majestic  torrent  into  the  all-embracing  sea. 
There  is  a  lesson  for  thee,  my  toiling  brother.  Start- 
ing from  the  mountains  of  truth-loving  endeavor  and 
manly  resolve,  what  though  the  world's  cold  scorn  falls 
on  thee,  and  the  bitter  winds  of  persecution  blow 
around  thee,  toil  on,  live  to  thy  soul's  ideal.  There 
are  noble  hearts  beating  for  thee,  glorious  rewards 
awaiting  thee.  There  are  no  obstacles  too  high  for  thee 
to  surmount ;  the  greatest  success  of  which  thy  soul 
ever  dreamed  is  guaranteed  thee. 

But  Shakspeare  says  there  are  "  sermons  in  stones ; " 
and,  while  there  is  time,  we  must  look  at  some  of 
these.  You  would  never  forgive  me  if  I  did  not  give 
you  some  of  these  sermons.  These  "  hard-heads,"  as 
the  bowlders  have  been  called,  are  old  heads  and  wise 
heads,  and  no  less  eloquent.  They  preach  the  longest, 
the  truest,  the  wisest  of  sermons.  These  ministers  of 
Nature  are  expounding  continually,  — 

With  magical  eloquence,  day  and  night, 
Denouncing  the  wrong,  upholding  the  right,  -^ 

by  the  road-side,  in  the  swamp,  in  the  foaming  stream, 
and  the  ploughed  field.  They  preached  to  the  Indian, 
^  as  he  stealthily  stole  by  to  shoot  the  deer  at  the  lick, 
as  they  had  done  to  the  dumb  savages,  his  ancestors, 
who  had  not  learned  to  form  the  rudest  of  implements 
for  the  chase.     These  preachers  never  stammer  nor 


V, 


\j 


824 


A  SEEMON  FROM  SHAKSPEAEE. 


cough ;  they  never  rave  nor  rant ;  they  never  lie  to 
please  a  congregation,  or  for  the  glory  of  God,  as  I'm 
afraid  sonae  of  our  gospel  preacliers  do ;  they  never  get 
drunk  nor  blush  for  tlieir  record  :  they  invariably  tell 
the  truth,  and  that  is  just  what  we  need  ;  and  their  bold, 
outspoken  utterances  have  spoiled  a  thousand  barrels 
of  orthodox  sermons  in  Massachusetts  alone.     Would 
that  we  were  more  awake  to  their  glowing  utterances! 
When  Shakspeare  was  living,  geology  was  unknown. 
What  wondrous  sermons  have  been  preached  by  the 
stones  since  his  time,  that  have  set  the  world  a-think- 
ing!      Werner,  Button,  Bake  well,  Bucklaud,  Lyell, 
Mantell,  Miller,  and  hosts  of  others  listened  to  them, 
took  notes  of  their  discourses ;  and  their  rough  notes, 
far  from  veibatim  reports,  liave  re-created  the  world, 
and  bid  fair  to  re-create  the  next.     How  silly  the  Gen- 
esical  fable  of  creation  appears  in  the  light  which' their 
utterances  reveal,  — the  six  days  of  fatiguing  labor  of 
the  Almighty  Mechanic,  dust-made  grandfather  Adam, 
and  bone-made  grandmother  Eve,  the  chatting  snake, 
and  the  cursing  God  !    In  tliese  sermons  that  the  stones 
preach,  there  is  no  God  complacently  congratulating 
himself  on  the  success  of  his  week's  work,  and,  in  a 
few  days,  cursing  like  a  demon  because  his  plans  have 
been  frustrated.     What  a  story  is  that  to  be  rehearsed 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  with  the  words  of  these  stones 
ringing  in  our  ears !     There  rolls  tlie  ruddy  planet,  as 
it  came  from  the  glowing  furnace  of  the  sun,  a  spirit 
within  its  concentrated  fire-mist  presiding  over  it,  and 
able  to  produce,  when  conditions  permit,  plant  and 
bird,  beast  and  man.     We  see  the  solid  rock,  as  the 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


325 


world  cools,  bare,  black,  and  flinty  ;  and  below,  the  boil- 
ing, turbid  waters ;  from  the  deep,  where  the  first  rude 
forms  of  life  appear,  island  after  island  emerges,  lichens 
cling  to  the  rocks  upon  them,  moss-like  plants  carpet 
them,  ferns  fringe  them,  beetles  hum  K)ver  them,  and 
fishes  go  flashing  along  their  shores,  or  feed  upon  the 
sea-weeds  that  spread  over  the  waters  their  long  gela- 
tinous arms.  Tree-ferns  unroll  their  fronds,  club- 
mosses  upraise  their  columns  out  of  the  dense  swamps, 
lepidodendrons  rear  their  scaly  trunks,  frogs  hop  along 
the  margins  of  the  lakes  or  vigorously  swim  in  their 
waters,  while  above  them  dragon-flies  flit  on  gauzy 
wings.  Birds  appear,  rude,  gross,  stalking  along  the 
shores,  fishing  in  the  waters  ;  reptiles  swimming,  div- 
ing, crawling,  basking  on  the  rocks,  roaming  through 
the  woods,  soaring  in  the  air ;  mammals,  huge  and 
whale-like,  follow  them,  living  in  the  waters ;  thick- 
skinned  monsters  wading  in  the  rivers,  crashing  through 
the  reeds ;  horses  roam  over  the  virgin  prairies  ;  deer 
feed  on  the  newly-developed  grasses  ;  monkeys,  the  fore- 
runners of  men,  feed  on  the  luscious  figs.  Then  comes 
savage  man,  low-browed,  brutal,  but  human  :  within 
him  the  science,  the  art  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
of  a  million  centuries  yet  to  be  born ;  and,  at  last,  here 
are  we,  the  freest  congregation  in  the  freest  city,  in 
spite  of  its  fogyism,  that  our  planet  has  yet  seen,  each 
one  swearing  that  he  will  not  rest  till  he  has  made  this 
old  world  better  than  he  found  it. 

This  is  one  of  the  sermons  the  stones  are  preaching  ; 
and  where  it  is  heard,  most  other  sermons  are  preached 
iu  vain.     Man  has  been  advancing  from  the  start,  as 


\ 


326 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


ii 


the  world  had  been  for  so  many  ages  before  him  ;  then 
man  never  fell,  and  Jesus  was  never  sent  to  raise  what 
the  devil  was  never  permitted  to  knock  down.  Good 
and  evil  flow  from  humanity  by  virtue  of  its  nature ; 
the  Devil  is  no  longer  needed,  and  his  bottomless  pit  is 
filled  to  the  brim.  Jesus  descends  from  the  throne  of 
his  glory  and  takes  his  place  on  the  platform  occupied 
by  his  brothers  ;  and  we  can  say  of  a  thousand  living 
men  and  women,  a  better  than  Jesus  is  here. 

Here,  too,  is  a  sermon  on  progress.  From  fluid  fire  to 
solid  rock,  from  shapeless  stone  to  symmetrical  crystal, 
from  crystal  to  polyp,  from  this  sluggish  stomach  at  the 
sea-bottom  to  the  active  fish,  thence  to  the  ground-tread- 
ing reptile,  first  tenant  of  the  soil ;  then  life  soars  in  the 
bird,  advances  toward  man  in  the  brute,  and  reaches 
him  only  to  urge  him  on  to  higher  and  nobler  posi- 
tions. We  are  here  with  this  infinite  past  beneath  us, 
and  an  illimitable  future  above  us,  and  ability  within 
us  to  climb  the  heights  apparently  forever.  All  this  to 
drop  at  death  back  to  the  dust  from  which  life  has  as- 
cended only  by  slow  steps  for  millions  of  years  ?  We 
are  that  we  may  be.  All  the  past  was  that  we  might 
be  in  the  present ;  and  the  present  is  that  the  future 
may.  be  superior  to  it.  Progress  is  not  dead,  nor  God 
asleep.  Tlie  ages  have  not  sown  that  death  or  the  Devil 
might  reap :  neither  hell  nor  the  grave  is  the  granary 
of  humanity.  The  everlasting  arms  are  around  us : 
over  the  stream  of  death  they  shall  bear  us,  and  land 
us  in  a  sunnier  clime. 

But  I  must  not  preach  too  long  from  such  sermons 
as  these,  important  as  they  are.    Few  geologists  have 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


327 


dared  to  tell  the  truth, —  reveal  to  the  world  all  that 
their  science  has  taught  them.  tSci^ntists,  like  theolo- 
gians, are  sad  cowards.  A  great  effort  is  made  by  many 
of  them  to  make  these  old  preachers  talk  orthodoxi- 
cally  ;  but  the  effort  is  a  dead  failure.  Though  many 
geologists  seek  with  oblique  vision  to  look  upon  old 
dogmas  and  new  revelations  at  the  same  time,  yet 
others  are  gaining  courage  to  declare  the  whole  coun- 
sel of  Nature. 

The  stones  are  preaching  their  sermons  in  the  streets 
of  Boston  to-day.  Fort  Hill  is  being  cut  down,  and 
interested  people  gather  to  sec  the  gradual  disappear- 
ance of  one  of  the  interesting  relics  of  historic  times. 
Go  and  see  the  old  "  hard  heads,"  as  they  are  scooped 
from  the  soil  by  the  steam  excavator,  or  lie  exposed 
once  more  to  the  light  of  day  along  the  lessening  crest. 
They  are  covered  with  marks  and  scratches.  Not  a 
stone  to  wliich  they  were  introduced  but  left  its  mark : 
they  tell  us  of  the  grinding  ice-fields  of  the  glacial 
period,  when  a  Greenland  winter  locked  the  sea  and 
buried  the  land ;  and  you  may  learn  from  them  that 
we  have  only  fairly  started  to  explore  the  past  of  bur 
planet  on  which  our  present  stands,  and  eternity  will 
be  needed  to  read  what  the  eternity  of  the  past  has 
done. 

But  Shakspeare  says  there  is  "good  in  everything." 
What  an  extravagant  statement  is  this  I  Right,  Wil- 
liam, right :  you,  too,  were  wiser  than  you  knew.  Good 
in  earthquakes,  ground-shaking,  rock-cleaving,  city- 
swallowing,  life-destroying  earthquakes  ?  Certainly. 
By  earthquake  throes  the  continents  have  been  up- 


\ 


V 


328 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARB. 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


329 


F.  \ 


•V  / 


/    / 


k 


I 


lifted,  the  mountains  reared,  and  the  world  adorned. 
We  should  never  have  been  here  in  the  glory  of  this 
day,  if  our  planet  had  not  been  swept  by  fiery  storms 
and  shaken  millions  of  times  by  the  earthquake's  jar. 
Their  curses  are  inseparable  from  their  blessings. 

Is  there  good  in  volcanoes,  those  fearful  hells  that 
spout  out  glowing  torrents  that  scathe  and  destroy, 
and  with  their  clouds  of  ashes  envelop  cities  in  ruin  ? 
Yes :  these  are  the  safety-valves  of  the  globe.  Weight 
them  down,  as  engineers  sometimes  do  the  safety-valve 
of  the  steam-engine,  and  but  a  short  time  would  suffice 
to  blow  the  crust  of  the  globe  to  atoms. 

Good  in  pain,  that  racks  the  nerves,  that  clouds  the 
mind,  —  pain,  the  companion  of  sorrow,  and  herald  of 
death  ?  Assuredly  there  is.  If  we  never  felt  pain, 
long  before  we  reached  maturity  our  bodies  would  bo 
wrecks :  a  boy's  hands  would  be  burned  to  cinders 
before  he  was  ten  years  old.  The  stomach  would  be 
injured  beyond  recovery  by  our  excesses,  before  we 
were  aware  of  our  departure  from  correct  living. 
Pain  is  a  guardian  forever  attending  us  :  for  the  child 
it  is  better  than  a  hundred  nurses.  The  mother's  eye 
may  wander  from  lier  charge  ;  but  pain  never  sleeps  at 
its  post.  The  child,  attracted  by  the  glare,  puts  its 
finger  in  the  flame.  Ha  !  it  starts  back  with  a  sudden 
cry.  It  has  learned  a  lesson  that  can  never  be  forgot- 
ten. In  a  world  without  pain,  not  one  human  being  iu 
a  hundred  could  ever  arrive  at  maturity.  Pain,  often 
considered  man's  enemy,  is  but  an  angel  in  disguise. 

But  there  is  certainly  nothing  good  in  pestilences, 
that  decimate  cities  and  are  the  dread  of  nations  ?    If 


no  other  good  arose  from  them,  they  widen  the  streets 
of  our  cities,  cause  arrangements  to  be  made  for  sew- 
erage, and  cleanse  and  beautify  the  close  and  other- 
wise filthy  alleys.     The  general  comfort  arising  from 
all  these  may  be  traced  in  considerable  measure  to  the 
dread  produced  by  those  scourges  of  the  human  race. 
The  darkest  features  of  some  systems  are  often  really 
the  best  portions  of  them,  when  properly  understood. 
Ask  a  Protestant  to  name  the  darkest  features  of  Catholi- 
cism, and  he  would  probably  say  that  portion  of  it  which 
binds  its  members  to  life-long  celibacy.      Monk,  nun, 
and  priest  must  never  marry ;  or,  if  they  do,  they  receive 
tlie  church's  ban.     "  What  a  horrible  system  is  this !  " 
says  the  Protestant.    Not  so  horrible  as  it  looks.    Tliese 
monks,  nuns,  and  priests  are  the  most  superstitious 
members  of  the  Roman  church.     And  how  fortunate  it 
is  that  their  superstition  dies  with  them,  if  true  to  their 
vows  ;  and  the  most  superstitious  are  the  most  likely  to 
be.    Thus,  when  superstition  culminates  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  church,  it  is  cut  off  forever.      If  the  heretics 
could  pass  a  law,  and  make  it  binding,  that  the  most 
superstitious   people  should  never  marry,  lest  their 
superstition  should   be   inherited   by    their  children, 
what  an  outrage  it  would  be  deemed  I     Yet,  thanks 
to  the  blindness  of  the  most  intolerant  of  all  Christian 
sects,  this  is  just  what  tlie  church  itself  does  ;   and 
there  is  good  here,  where  we  had  least  reason  to  ex- 
pect it.    When  a  man  becomes  as  fanatical  as  a  Shaker, 
he  ought  not  to  transmit  his  fanaticism  to  posterity. 
How  carefully  the  Sliaker,  by  virtue  of  his  faith,  guards 
against  the  possibility  of  it ! 


330 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPILVIIE. 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


331 


'',1/'  S 


But  is  there  any  good  in  war  ?  There  must  be,  if 
Shakspeare  is  right ;  and  I  certainly  think  he  is.  Where 
did  we  stand  but  ten  years  ago  ?  The  North,  a  great 
hunting-ground  for  slaves,  and  every  man  by  law  a  kid- 
napper; forty  thousand  preachers,  and  eighty  thou- 
sand merchants,  on  their  knees,  licking  the  dust  at  the 
foot  of  the  slave-power ;  the  priests  quoting  scripture 
in  favor  of  and  apologizing  for  the  vilest  of  all  crimes  ; 
and  the  merchants  defending  the  practices,  that  they 
might  obtain  the  custom  of  the  women-whippers  and 
baby-stealers.  Where  are  they  now?  The  red  whirl- 
wind of  war  has  swept  the  whole  brutal  system  from 
the  face  of  the  land  it  insulted  so  long.  Where  now 
are  those  godly  Boston  ministers  who  with  pious  faces 
read  their  Bible-texts  from  the  pulpit  in  favor  of  this 
stupendous  crime  ?  You  can  scarcely  find  a  man  from 
Maine  to  Mexico  who  dares  lift  up  his  voice  in  defence 
of  chattel  slavery  ;  and  the  ministers  are  now  hasten- 
ing to  prove  that  they  were  always  in  favor  of  freedom, 
and  that  Cliristianity  has  conquered  and  gained  the 
victory  alone  !  That  war  converted  more  than  Chris- 
tianity has  done  for  a  thousand  years,  and  at  the  same 
time  converted  the  Bible. 

The  villains  that  applied  the  torch  of  rebellion  to  the 
temple  of  our  liberty  expected  to  burn  the  fabric  to  the 
ground ;  but,  instead  of  that,  away  went  rags  and  scrap?, 
hay  and  stubble,  that  blind  priests  and  crafty  politicians 
had  been  gathering  and  piling  for  years  around  it.  And, 
when  the  smoke  rolled  away,  there  stood  the  temple  in 
its  grandeur,  and  the  golden  statue  of  Liberty  above  all, 
unharmed  by  the  transient  fire,  and  unblackened  by  the 


smoke ;  and  now,  within  that  temple,  stands  a  redeemed 
people.  This  land  has  at  length  become  in  truth  what 
it  was  only  in  name,  — 

*'  The  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave." 

This  grand  stumbling-block  out  of  our  way,  we  take, 
and  shall  henceforth  keep,  the  foremost  place  in  all  the 
world.  When  I  find  war  assisting  so  materially  to  bring 
about  such  a  condition  of  things,  I  cannot  but  agree  with 
Shakspeare,  that  there  is  "  good  in  every  thing." 

"  But  the  Devil,  you  know,  is  all  bad,"  says  my 
orthodox  brother.  Bring  him  here  and  we  will  dis- 
sect him,  and  I  will  show  you  that  he  lias  an  angelic 
kernel  in  his  heart.  A  king  who  has  ruled  so  long 
over  the  largest  population  that  was  ever  governed  by 
any  one  potentate,  must  have  some  re<ieeniing  traits. 
It  is  only  imaginary  beings  that  are  destitute  of  good. 
A  soul  of  good  seems  to  be  essential  to  a  thing's  exist- 
ence, destitute  of  which  it  must  die,  or  rather,  it  never 
could  have  lived.  If  there  is  a  devil,  there  must  be 
good  in  him ;  but  since,  as  the  orthodox  inform  us, 
there  is  no  good  in  the  Devil,  it  is  evident  that  he  does 
not  exist. 

Good  in  death,  —  the  terrible  curse  pronounced  by 
Jehovah  on  all  ?  Certainly,  and  the  greatest  of  good. 
Death,  the  sick  man*s  solace,  the  old  man's  hope,  the 
good  man's  friend,  the  slave's  release,  the  great  uniter, 
the  twin  of  sleep,  and  the  door  of  heaven.  We,  as 
spiritualists,  sec  the  good  there  is  in  death  as  no  other 
people  ever  did.      We  have  come  from  the  land  of 


332 


A  SERMON  FROM  SHAKSPEARE. 


4 
1 


A 


\ 


shadows,  the  gloomy  wilderness,  peopled  by  devils  and 
lit  by  the  fire  of  lurid  hells.  Up  we  have  come  to  the 
"  delectable  mountains,''  fairer  than  those  of  which 
Bunyan  dreamed  ;  and  we  revel  in  tlie  rays  of  a  sun 
that  never,  never  sets.  The  prospect  is  so  clear  that 
we  can  see  beyond  the  swift-flowuig  stream  the  loved 
ones  who  have  gone  before ;  nay,  we  can  hear  their 
cheerful  voices,  and  know  that  it  is  well  with  them, 
and  must  be  well  with  us.  In  the  light  of  thi^  new 
mornhig  we  can  take  death  by  thp  hand  and  say: 
Thou  art  our  benefactor,  our  unchanging  friend. 
Sent  by  a  higher  life  on  the  most  beneficent  of  all 
missions,  when  our  work  is  done  on  earth  we  will 
greet  thee  with  joy,  and  look  into  thine  eyes  with  a 
smile  ;  for  thou  shalt  usher  us  into  the  company  of  the 
immortal. 

Is  there  good,  then,  in  all  that  happens  to  man  ?  I 
doubt  not  that  we  shall  rise  in  the  hereafter  to  where, 
looking  over  all  the  chequered  scene  of  earth's  uni- 
versal history,  we  shall  exclaim,  from  the  fullest  assur- 
ance of  its  truth,  All  is  well !  all  is  well ! 


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